mm  x  MJS 


TIME  AND    ETERNITY 


A  POEM 


BY 


GEORGE  MAC-HENRY 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

A  L  BANCROFT  AND  COMPANY 
1871 


MlT- 

X 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1871, 

By  GEORGE  MAC-HENRY, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


Bancroft's  Steam  Printing,  Lithographing,  Engraving  and  Book-binding 
Establishment,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 


Bancroft  Library 
14053 

CONTENTS. 

CANTO.  PAOE> 

1.  THE  GATHERING  OF  THE  JEWS.      -        -        .        -     15 

2.  THE  COUNCIL  OF  WAR. 32 

3.  THE  ENCAMPMENT. ^, 

4.  THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON.  ....        6c 

5.  THE  RESURRECTION  OF  THE  SALNIS.  -    84 

6.  THE  REIGN  OF  GOG.    -        -        .        .        .        -      101 

7.  THE  ADVENT  OF  THE  MESSIAH.      -        .        .        .125 

8.  THE  MILLENNIUM.  ....      140 

9.  THE  FEAST  OF  LOVE.  ^7 

10.  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  EARTH.    -        -        -      183 

11.  THE  LAST  JUDGMENT.  2I4 

12.  HELL  AND  HEAVEN. 24I 


•*£§$* 


me  behold  the  Beautiful  and  True ! 
O  let  me  dream  of  Paradise  and  Thee, 
"Grand  Archetypal  Poet !     None  can  view 
The  future  in  the  present,  none  can  see, 
But  prophets,  visions  of  eternity; 
For  to  Thy  councils  Thou  hast  them  alone 

Called,  and  reveal'st  to  them  what  is  to  be : 
Yet  on  my  spirit  breathe  Thy  benison, 
That  I  may  read  the  spells  which  Thou  hast  to  them 
shown. 

n. 
Then,  startled  from  a  slumberous  lethargy, 

Straight  with  his  mental  ear  the  dreamer  hears, 
And  his  eye's  filled  with  inward  phantasy, 

So  that  what's  hidden  photographed  appears, 

Distinct,  on  earth,  or  in  the  starry  spheres; 
Darkness  a  moving  panorama  limns, 

And  silence  speaks;  the  heart  then  knows  no  fears 
And  feels  no  sorrows,  but  exultant,  trims 
His  wings  of  fire  to  mount  where  seraphs  sing   their 
hymns. 


TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

III. 
When  the  sun  shines  man  nothing  scans  but  earth, 

In  the  moon's  ray  of  opalescent  sheen 
Some  twinkling  stars  steal  out,  yet  few  come  forth; 

But  in  the  shadow  of  the  cone  terrene 

Orbs  beyond  number  and  beyond  thought  are  seen: 
So  in  the  darkness  of  my  solitude 

My  soul  inspired  surveys  the  Heavens  serene. 
And  all  that's  bright  and  beautiful  and  good 
Finds  in  the  poetry  of  Thy  infinitude. 

IV. 

The  space  dividing  matter  from  the  mind 

But  typifies  the  greater  distance  far 
Between  the  love  fraternal  of  mankind 

And  genius  that  is  selfish.     Hence  we  are 

Idolaters  of  Talent's  meteor  glare, 
A  painted  vapor  that  explodes  to  wind; 

But  worshippers  of  Virtue's  Morning  Star, 
The  harbinger  of  light  and  life  combined, 
Jesus,  the  Prince  of  Peace,  who  taught  us  to  be  kind. 

v. 
Then  brilliant  though  the  gleam  of  genius  be, 

Since  in  the  purer  flame  of  moral  grace 
'Tis  quenched,  as  rivers  rolling  in  the  sea, 

O  give  me  moral  strength  to  run  Life's  race, 

And  reach  its  goal  in  Thine  Own  dwelling  place, 
The  home  of  all  who  think  and  act  good  deeds, 

With  Thy  name  "Holy"  marked  upon  my  face! 
My  corn  permit  not  to  be  choked  with  weeds, 
Nor  let  my  fame  be  blown  as  blasts  from  broken  reeds ! 


TIME  AND  ETERNITY.  9 

VI. 

Through  flashing  billows  of  the  clouds  that  shed 
A  silvery  spray  along  their  wake,  allow 

Thine  aerial  messengers  my  nightly  bed 
To  visit,  and  with  finger  touch  my  brow, 
That  in  Thy  knowledge  I  may  wiser  grow, 

And  learn  the  meaning  of  the  sacred  Rood, 
The  symbol  of  the  Martyrdom  of  Woe, 

And  Triumph  over  Evil  of  the  Good — 

How  sorrow  bravely  borne  may  win  beatitude. 

VII. 

Still  through  the  peopled  silence  of  my  dreams 

Conduct  me  to  the  Paradise  of  Sleep, 
Where  Fancy's  marvelous  microcosm  beams 
.    With  radiant  shapes  of  beauty  to  the  deep 

Cerulean  gulfs,  where  sceptered  angels  sweep 
In  gold  and  purple,  and  their  pennons  weigh 

Bands  of  bright  cherubs  o'er  the  beetling  steep 
Of  Chaos,  or  in  rainbow  colors  play, 
And  Heaven's  belfry  chimes,  and  life  is  holiday. 

VIII. 

Ah,  when  I  first  invoked  Thy  gracious  name, 

Hope  beckoned  smiling;  but  soon  trembling  fear, 

That  blanched  with  awe  and  reverential  shame, 
Possessed  me,  lest  in  my  sublime  career 
Beyond  this  nether  globe  I  failed  to  steer 

Where  Thou  art  shrined  in  glory,  to  be  cast 

Confounded  back;  but  through  the  mystic  sphere 

Thou  led'st  me,  else  ere  I  had  venturous  passed 

The  realms  of  space  I'd  sunk  bewildered  and  aghast. 


i  TIME  AND  ETERNI1Y. 

IX. 

Let  me  the  honored  praise  of  virtue  sing, 

The  sanctitude  of  faith,  the  beauty  bright 
Of  meekness,  and  of  Thee  supreme,  the  King 

Omnipotent,  enthroned  in  living  light ! 

Thy  face  is  not  vouchsafed  to  human  sight, 
Not  so  Thine  attributes:  these  Thee  declare, 

Though  Thou  be  clothed  invisible  in  night, 
A  God  of  Love,  whose  heart  is  everywhere, 
That  we  Thy  children  are,  and  Thou  dost  hear  our 
prayer. 

x. 
Then  Abba,  whatsoever  may  betide 

Thy  suppliant,  whether  for  a  little  while 
To  live  in  weal  or  woe,  let  me  confide 

In  Thee,  alone,  and  Thy  approving  smile; 

For  pride  and  vanity  are  oft  the  wile 
That  lures  to  ruin;  but  Thy  love  is  praise! 

Pleased  if  my  brother  should  reward  my  toil 
With  his  applause,  but  better  pleased  to  raise 
My  head  to  Thee  to  tire  with  amaranthine  bays. 

XI. 

For  what  to  me  is  fame,  whose  youth  is  past, 
And  hope  to  azure  fieltls  before  me  gone, 

Avant-courier  of  glory,  while  I'm  cast 

The  stream  of  Life's  tumultuous  waters  on, 
That  flow  forever  to  the  sea  unknown ! 

I  hear  the  breakers  dashing  on  that  shore, 
I  float  upon  the  misty  tide  alone, 

I  gaze  into  the  darkness  to  explore; 

A  glimpse  of  light  chinks  through  the  cloudy  corridor. 


TIME  AND  ETERNITY.  11 

XII. 

And  if  that  dim  haze  be  the  House  of  Death, 
And  thither  through  the  gloaming  be  the  ford, 

Whose  passage  by  the  dreaded  Shibboleth 
Is  guarded,  teach  me  how  to  say  the  word 
Aright,  so  that  I  may  escape  the  sword 

Of  grim  Abaddon  to  Thy  Sanctuary, 

Where  Thou  art  of  Thy  saints  redeemed  the  Lord, 

And  all  the  shining  worlds  that  roll  on  high 

The  Elysium  is,  where  they  sojourn  in  perfect  joy. 

XIII. 

Let  me  then  turn  to  Thee,  and  grant  my  tongue 
The  voice  of  light,  that  swelling  to  Thy  Throne, 

With  fervent  eloquence  of  worship  strung, 
As  Alpha  and  Omega  Thee  alone 
May  venerate,  and  as  Thy  Prophet  Son 

Revere  our  brother,  and  with  him  commune 
Of  duty,  and,  in  choral  unison, 

Sweet  music  of  the  mind  in  metric  rune, 

With  sacred  bards  harmonious  psalmody  attune. 

XIV. 

I  thank  Thee  for  existence,  and  that  I 

Am  graced  with  sense  intelligent  to  see 
Thee  in  Thy  works — in  the  gem-flowered  sky, 

On  the  star-spangled  earth,  and  in  the  sea 

Unfathomable  of  infinity; 
Immense  the  privilege,  enormous  bliss, 

To  be  assured  I  am  an  entity — 
To  read  Thy  Bible  in  the  world-abyss, 
Thy  missal  in  Thy  works  wherever  nature  is. 


12  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 


Since  had  I  been  the  inestimable  gem 
Set  in  the  crown  of  earth's  great  emperor, 

What  would  to  me  have  been  that  diadem? 
Nothing:  embalmed  in  life-preserving  myrrh, 
My  soul  had  then  lain  in  its  sepulchre, 

Buried  in  sleep.     But  not  to  know  alone 
That  which  is  seen  in  Nature's  theatre 

Is  mine,  but  there  to  hope  where  all  's  unknown, 

And  trust  that  all  is  best  whate'er  Thy  will  be  done. 

XVI. 

I  In  i)  should  the  bread  of  life  which  Thou  hast  given 

Be  turned  by  man  to  stone,  and  should  there  be 
Storms,  and  a  frown  along  the  face  of  Heaven; 

Ah,  should  there  be  a  dark  Gethsemane, 

With  awful  terrors,  e'en  a  Calvary 
I»y  (ale  reserved  for  me,  O  let  me  feel, 

Although  exposed  to  human  obloquy, 
Whatever  blows  adversity  may  deal, 
There  is  no  mortal  wound   but  Thy  kind  balm  can 
heal! 

XVII. 

Let  not  my  laith  become  a  Mind  belief, 

Hut  righteous  trust  in  Thy  benignant  Dove; 

Thai  when  Thou  sink's!  Thine  anger  will  be  brief, 
T.iil  inlinile  Thy  lender  mereies  prove, 
However  Thou  niiiysl  chasten  or  reprove. 

The  tririNe  of  sin  js  (U1I-  ivmorse, 

The  beautiful  of  goodness  Thy  dear  love, 


TIME  AND  ETERNITY.  13 

Our  scrip  and  staff,  while  to  the  eternal  source 
Of  bliss  through  heavenly  courts  life  holds  its  endless 
course. 

XVIII. 

The  watch  and  ward  of  my  soul's  citadel, 

Let  Hope  stand  firm,  against  the  present  bane 

Braced  in  proof  armor,  against  sin  and  hell, 
Reliant  that  the  trial  is  not  vain 
Which  I  with  name  of  evil  would  profane. 

Ah,  when  my  strength  subdued  was  stormed  by  death, 
Thy  buckler  guarded  life  in  spite  of  pain, 

To  live  for  Thy  work  with  unfailing  faith, 

Though  by  the  arrows  pierced  that  sting  my  mortal 
breath. 

XIX. 

This  friendly  earth  is  but  my  foster-mother, 
That  nurses  me  with  unremitting  care, 

And  every  sentient  creature  is  my  brother, 
Who  all  receive  from  her  a  filial  share  ' 
Of  guardian  succor,  but  Thy  children  are; 

Thou  art  my  Father,  more  than  ever  was 
My  human  parent,  and  by  Thee  I'm  heir 

Of  immortality,  when  Time  shall  pass 

As  shadow  o'er  the  earth,  and  shake  his  empty  g 

xx. 

My  Father !  yet  my  Mother,  too,  Thou  art ! 

For  Thou  dost  feed  me,  clothe  me,  tend  me;  Thy 

Breast  is  my  nightly  pillow,  Thy  kind  heart 
My  daily  store,  and  Thy  maternal  e 
To  watch  Thine  errant  child,  is  always  by ! 


14  TIME  AND  ETERNITY, 

Why  should  I  faint  in  agony  of  fear  ? 
Why  dread  the  present  or  futurity  ? 
Is  not  Thy  ready  hand  to  save  me  near? 
Is  not  the  darling  babe  unto  its  mother  dear  ? 

XXI. 

The  Sabbath  bliss  of  Jesus'  death-bequest, 

His  peace  grant  unto  me,  that  noon  and  eve 
Like  Isaac,  I  may  walk  the  fields,  and  rest 

My  thoughts  on  Nature,  and  all  things  that  live; 

And,  with  a  mind  all  full  of  eyes,  perceive 
Thy  wisdom  in  the  stone,  the  leaf,  the  flower; 

From  every  sound  and  smell  fresh  hope  receive, 
New  strength  and  firmer  faith;  and  feel  Thy  power 
And  Thy  love  fall  on  me  as  on  earth  heaven's  shower. 

XXII. 

Shall  no  fair  nymph  string  roses  of  sweet  song 

To  weave  a  garland  for  my  laureate  head? 
Shall  no  kind  muse,  with  soft  complaining  tongue 

Invoke  the  memory  of  my  buried  shade  ? 

Then  let  my  ashes  by  the  shore  be  laid, 
And  I  will  list  the  nereids  of  the  wave 

On  spirit-harps  chant  requiems  for  the  dead, 
The  laverock's  choir  in  morn's  cathedral  nave, 
And  angels  whisper  Heaven's  secrets  o'er  my  grave. 


THE  GATHERING  OF  THE  JEWS. 

CANTO    I. 


HERE  Bethany  extends  her  groves  of  palms, 

Her  vineyards  filtering  the  sun  and  dew, 
And  fields  of  maize  that  shake  their  plumy 

haulms, 

Nestled  in  gold  Hesperian,  loomed  to  view 
A  flat-roofed  mansion,  from  whose  portal  threw 
A  hundred  colored  lamps  their  festive  light, 

Twinkling  and  dancing  in  the  horizon  blue, 
Or,  through  the  tremulous  foliage,  to  the  sight 
Sparkled,  as  shooting  stars  that  flit  athwart  the  night: 

ii. 
And  where  the  crowning  miracle  of  Love 

Dead  Lazarus  to  life  raised  from  the  dead, 
When  the  veins  shrunken  felt  the  voice  to  move 

Their  dried-up  currents,  and  the  sleeping  head 

Woke  from  its  trance,  and  Death  in  terror  fled; 
Where  gentle  Mary  washed  the  Master's  feet 

With  tears,  and  spikenard  upon  them  shed, 
And  found  a  wisdom  in  the  service  sweet — 
In  that  same  pastoral  village  troops  of  revelers  meet. 


1 6  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

%  III. 

It  was  a  wedding  festival  they  held ; 

And,  issuing  from  the  gate,  with  myrtle  crowned — 
Sweet  Aphrodite's  love-star,  as  of  eld — 

A  group  of  gay  and  giddy  youths  were  bound 

In  a  procession  through  the  hamlet  round. 
A  welcome  blithe  saluted  them  from  buds 

And  blossoms,  which  a  tongue  in  perfume  found, 
As  they  skipped  through  the  alleys  of  the  woods, 
Or  by  the  laureled  banks  of  marble-channeled  floods; 

IV. 

On  the  same  pathway  where,  with  garments  spread, 
And  branches  strewn,  his  peace-triumphant  way. 

While  victor's  palms  were  waved  above  his  head, 
The  King  of  Glory  took,  in  meek  array, 
Serene  with  love,  resigned  without  dismay, 

Though  conscious  Pharisees  had  set  their  snare, 
And  traitor  spies  were  watching  to  betray, 

While  jubilant  hosannahs  rung  the  air, 

On  to  his  bloody  cross,  with  heart-forgiving  prayer. 


The  fife  screamed  shrill,  and  sharp  the  bugle  blew. 

Scaring  the  leveret,  as  it  skimmed  the  mead, 
And  frightening  wizard  bats,  that,  squealing,  flew 

In  curves  abrupt  and  broken  overhead, 

Hiding  in  nooks  of  barns  for  very  dread; 
The  speckled  lizard  keeked  with  glistening  eyes 

From  out  the  wicket  of  his  mossy  bed, 
And  hushed  the  nightingale  her  symphonies, 
To  list  their  roundelays,  and  watch  their  revelries. 


THE  GATHERING  OF  THE   JEWS.  17 

VI. 

In  the  innumerous  orchestra  of  leaves 

Trills  the  cicada  her  soprano  hymn, 
A  sylvan  hurdy-gurdy;  round  pent-house  eaves 

Flutters  the  moth,  in  masquerading  trim, 

Who  moped  the  sunny  hours,  a  hermit  grim, 
In  some  dark  cell,  by  prying  eyes  unseen; 

Light  webs  of  gossamer,  in  arcades  dim, 
By  sylphs  are  woven  from  the  moonbeams'  sheen, 
And  on  the  hammock  rocks  in  state  the  Fairy  Queen. 

VII. 

The  exuberant  gladness  of  the  marriage  prime 
Was  theirs,  when  joy,  engarlanded  with  flowers, 

Light-hearted,  scatters  from  the  glass  of  time 
The  golden  sands  which  are  the  passing  hours, 
Such  as  once  shone  on  Eden's  blissful  bowers, 

When  angels  sung  the  hymeneal  ode, 

And  cast  on  earth  their  eavenly  gifts  in  showers, 

As  Eve,  fresh  molded  from  the  hand  of  God, 

By  guiding  love  was  led  to  where  her  spouse  abode. 

VIII. 

Light  were  the  clouds  spun  by  the  limber  wind 

With  silver  threads;  the  harvest  moon  arose 
Above  the  Hill  of  Zion,  which  seemed  to  bind 

The  horned  diadem  across  her  brows; 

In  the  fused  pane  the  dying  daylight  glows, 
With  wreathes  of  blooming  fire  the  olives  flower. 

Do  evening  skies  but  still  the  heart  till  grows 
The  soul  more  holy  ?     Is  there  not  the  dower 

Of  beauty  and  of  love,  that's  theirs  for  evermore  ? 


1 8  TIME   AND   ETERNITY. 

IX. 

Yes,  there  is  beauty,  and  there's  love  around, 
In  heaven,  on  earth,  and  in  the  depths  below; 

God's  holy  temple  is  the  flower-paved  ground, 
As  well  as  star-lit  domes;  both  equal  show 
What  of  His  might  and  mercy  man  should  know, 

Who  is  himself  a  thought  divine,  and  sent 
On  mission  nature  to  explore,  and  grow 

Familiar  with  her  secrets,  and  present 

To  others  truths  which  to  himself  are  only  lent. 


Who  gilt  the  sun,  and  silver-typed  the  moon  ? 

Who  incremated  Yule  in  shroud  of  snow? 
Who  paradised  the  greenery  of  June, 

That  youth  and  beauty  into  love  might  blow, 

And  tender  thoughts  Elysium  make  below? 
Why  was  space  formed  the  theatre  of  life, 

And  life  the  vehicle  of  joy  and  woe  ? 
Why  birth  should  teem  for  death  to  be  so  rife  ? 
Why  should  existence  be  a  battle-field  of  strife  ? 


Ah,  little  pondered  they  such  themes  sublime ! 
Little  they  recked  of  human  destinies ! 

Of  small  account  they  held  the  lapse  of  time ! 
But  frolicked  on  their  way  as  colibris,1 
That  preen  their  coats  when  the  first  cuckoo  cries, 

When  hare-bell  meadows  purple  into  bloom, 

iThe  cinnyris  osea,  the  sun-bird  of  Syria,  a  species  of  hum- 
ming bird. 


THE  GATHERING  OF  THE  JEWS.  19 

And  Love's  own  spirit  is  abroad,  and  hies 
To  every  creature,  and  awakes  the  tomb, 
Till  quickens  silent  dust  in  Nature's  fecund  womb. 

XII. 

And  he  who  proudly  led  the  nuptial  train 
Was  a  young  Rabbi  of  the  Talmud  law, 

Adoram  called,  whom  love's  enamored  pain, 
A  willing  captive,  held  in  pleasing  awe, 
E'er  since  the  handsome  Zilia  first  he  saw: 

Hope  into  fairy- land  rose-bloomed  the  earth, 
Deft  Harlequin,  as  lithe  he  tripped  the  shaw, 

Each  moment  to  enchanted  thoughts  gave  birth, 

Till  in  some  elfin  isle  his  spirit  gamboled  forth. 

XIII. 

Scarcely  he  knew  whether  he  trod  the  sward, 
The  buoyant  water,  or  the  moon-lit  air; 

The  jasmin  arbors  steamed  of  balm  and  nard, 
The  oleanders  shook  their  scented  hair — 
But  for  their  tender  wiles  he  had  no  care; 

He  heard  not  Philomela's  gurgling  sigh, 
For  his  whole  soul  was  filled  with  Zilia  fair; 

Love's  philtre  he  had  drained  till  it  was  dry; 

He  only  wished  for  wings,  that  he  might  to  her  fly. 


The  past  had  o'er  the  present  thrown  no  shade,' 
Before  its  steps  no  gloom  the  future  cast; 

All  things  looked  happy,  and  sweet  music  made, 
And,  ere  a  breath  of  storm  had  o'er  it  passed, 
Seemed  come  again  God's  garden,  and  would  last 

Through  halcyon  tides  in  endless  spring  serene; 
3 


20  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

No  burning  drought  nor  flood  nor  thunder  blast; 
But,  building  rainbows  in  the  clouds  were  seen 
The  laughing  hours,  peopling  with  Peri  shapes  the 
scene. 

xv. 
Ah,  shall  the  youth  of  beauty  ever  fade 

To  wrinkled  years,  and,  as  a  phantom  sink 
To  fearful  nothingness?     The  plant  is  dead 

Which  did  the  humid  cloud's  ambrosia  drink, 

And  at  the  stars  as  friends  congenial  wink, 
Nodded  to  winds  that  toyed  among  its  blooms, 

And  when  the  noon  looked  on  it  did  not  blink; 
But  now  its  stalk  shakes,  and  its  leaf  consumes: 
So  rattle  musty  bones  of  saints  in  charnel  tombs. 

XVI. 

Where  are  the  builders  of  Tuhanaco, 
The  architects  of  dcedal  temples,  vast 

In  ruined  pride,  where  palms  and  orchids  grow 
Crumbling  to  dust,  and  spectres  of  the  past 
Glide  through  the  emerald  gloom,  and  to  the  blast 

Whisper  the  sounds  of  names  forgotten  quite  ? 
The  Indian  tells  how  ancient  giants  cast 

Their  huge  foundations  in  a  single  night, 

Ere  the  bright  orb  of  day  kindled  his  vital  light. 

XVII. 

But  why  should  dismal  thoughts  on  joy  intrude  ? 
Yet  so  it  ever  is ;  and  when  most  blest, 

Then  are  we  most  in  melancholy  mood; 
For  Disappointment  never  is  at  rest, 
But  after  smiling  Hope  is  aye  in  quest, 


THE  GATHERING  OF  THE  JEWS.  21 

And  follows  as  her  shadow.     Hence  away 

Grim  Sadness,  in  thy  mourning  sables  drest! 
I  will  not  be  thy  cloistered  monk  this  day: 
Crown  me  with  green  vine  leaves  and  ivy  berries  gay. 

XVIII. 

As  homewards  they  returned,  the  parapets 
And  gilded  terrace  roof  from  gardens  rose, 

Like  saffron  cirrhi  when  the  daylight  sets 

Swim  on  the  summit  of  the  cloud  that  glows 
With  Taprobana  ruby.     How  still  repose 

The  dale  trees  in  the  moonshine !  everywhere 
There  is  a  spell  of  slumber;  in  swoons  doze 

The  citrons,  till  a  gust  swings  in  the  air 

The  incense  in  their  censers,  breathing  as  a  prayer. 

XIX. 

Now  the  port-cull  is  gate  of  Heaven  unlock 

Night's  sentries,  and  the  starry  hosts,  arrayed 
With  flaming  banners,  to  their  stations  flock, 

Around  the  Throne  of  Glory  to  parade ; 

None  from  their  ranks,  foot-sore,  have  ever  strayed ! 
But  all,  caparisoned,  before  that  Eye 

Which  never  in  forgetful  sleep  is  laid, 
Are  marshaled  in  the  azure  fields  of  sky, 
And  file  in  columns  spread  throughout  eternity. 

xx. 
When  at  the  porch  they  had  arrived,  they  were 

Received  by  Caled  with  a  hearty  will, 
Officious,  and  some  show  of  fussy  stir — 

For  he  was  garrulous  and  jovial  still. 


22  7'IME  AND  ETERNITY. 

"With  sparkling  vintage  amber  goblets  fill!" 
Exclaimed  the  aged  sire  of  Zilia;  "Sip 

The  balmy  essence  summer  skies  distil 
From  golden  dewdrops  that  through  sunshine  drip ! 
The  merry  elfin  beads  will  leap  to  kiss  thy  lip!" 


And  then  he  ushers  them  into  a  hall, 

Where  waited  them  his  household  and  his  friends. 
And  Levites  bearing  up  the  nuptial  pall. 

Scarce  were  they  seated,  ere  a  whisper  sends 

Its  furtive  greeting  round,  and  the  bride  bends 
Her  graceful  form  before  their  dazzled  eyes; 

But,  ere  her  gracious  salutation  ends, 
She  pales  and  blushes,  as  the  thoughts  arise 
Of  childhood's  home  beloved,  and  future  promised 
joys. 

XXII. 

Iri  pomp  of  beauty  gorgeously  attired, 

She  took  all  hearts,  and  shed  delight  around, 

And  all  with  ardor  amiable  inspired; 

Yet  was  her  countenance  bent  to  the  ground, 
And  her  mind  holy  sweet  communion  found 

In  silent  prayer.     A  spray  of  orange  flowers 
With  argent  studs  her  raven  tresses  bound, 

As  stars  with  diamonds  tire  the  midnight  hours, 

And  a  long  veil  of  lace  fell  down  in  snowy  showers : 

XXIII. 

A  carkanet  of  pearls,  with  mimic  life 

Heaved  on  her  bosom,  as  the  heart  beneath 
Trembled  with  pleasure  to  be  made  a  wife. 


THE  GATHERING  OF  THE  JEWS.  23 

The  sacred  sanctities  of  birth  and  death, 
The  problem  of  existence,  to  her  faith 

Were  sacraments  transcending  reason,  still 
Her  trust  in  Providence  was  not  a  breath 

Unmeaning,  nor  the  harbinger  of  ill; 

And,  listening  to  its  voice,  she  yielded  to  His  will. 


So  faith  o'er  doubt  prevails,  of  things  unseen 
And  mysteries  occult  the  prophet  blest, 

Who  lightens  darkness  with  his  prescient  sheen. 
The  cherub  Hope  was  hovering  o'er  her  breast, 
Like  the  connubial  ring-dove  round  her  nest: 

Chaste  as  the  pious  rapture  of  the  nun 

Was  the  dear  love/her  conscious  soul  confessed; 

Pure  as  the  kiss  that  waked  Endymion, 

Yet  warm  as  Cytherea  by  favored  mortal  won. 


O  Love,  whose  power  extends  o'er  land  and  sea, 
With  skies  coeval,  terminous  with  space, 

Conqueror  of  all  that  was,  and  is  to  be; 

Who  first  didst  see  the  Heavenly  Father's  face, 
And  him,  rejoicing  in  thy  charms,  embrace; 

And  in  the  courts  of  bliss  with  Wisdom  play, 
In  coexistent  sempiternal  grace, 

Through  the  unending  course  of  hourless  day, 

Ere  worlds  were  sown  as  dust  along  the  Milky  Way; 

XXVI. 

Soft  as  the  swan-down  where  the  Summer  sleeps, 
Sweet  as  the  musky  murmur  of  his  breath, 
3* 


24  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

Sad  as  the  tears  the  sullen  Winter  weeps, 

Bright  as  the  dimpled  smiles  that  Spring  enwreath, 
Tripping  through  clover  lawn  and  hawthorn  heath, 

Gay  as  the  Autumn's  laughter  in  the  sky, 

Fierce  as  the  phantom  frown  of  grizzly  Death, 

Fair  as  a  Seraph,  beckoning  on  high, 

Art  thou,  the  soul  of  life  and  immortality. 


Under  the  canopy  Adoram  led 

His  bride,  and  on  her  finger  placed  the  ring, 
The  magic  circle;  then  the  rites  were  read 

Of  ceremonial  laud  and  thanksgiving. 

But  now  a  fictile  vase  the  Levites  bring, 
Which  the  groom  on  the  tesselated  ground 

Dashes  with  crackling  din;  of  everything 
The  mortal  type,  where  nought  is  human  found 
That  ever  can  escape  the  stroke  of  Death's  last  wound. 

XXVIII. 

The  holiday  of  nature  marriage  is, 

Of  earth's  high  festivals  the  chief  and  best, 

The  sole  remaining  jubilee  of  bliss 

Left  us  of  Eden,  when  with  angels  blest 
Man  converse  held,  and  Paradise  possessed; 

May  morning  dapper,  brisk,  and  debonnair, 
When  all  things  jocund  are,  in  liveries  drest, 

Wooing  and  wooed,  kaleidoscope  of  air, 

The  wizard's  lantern,  throwing  idols  everywhere. 


A  gracious  privilege  of  juvenescence 
Is  to  be  gay;  its  morning  cannot  see 


THE  GATHERING  OF  THE  JEWS.  25 

Its  cloudy  sunset;  and  its  native  essence, 

The  prime  elixir  of  life's  chemistry, 

The  mirage  of  materiality, 
Is  Hope,  that,  with  an  astrologic  spell, 

Reads,  through  the  horoscope,  futurity, 
Descries  the  distant  still  delectable, 
And  finds  the  lovely  are  forever  lovable. 

XXX. 

And  of  bright  teraphim  none  is  so  bright 
As  loving  hearts,  when,  on  the  sacred  hearth, 

The  torch  of  Hymen  they  propitious  light, 
Their  constant  lode-star;  truly  showing  forth 
The  espousals  of  the  ether  with  the  earth, 

The  nuptial  ring  which  universal  Love 
Girdles  around  the  cosmic  system's  girth, 

When  out  of  elements  the  germins  move, 

Pullule  in  depths  below,  and  brood  in  heights  above. 

XXXI. 

Marriage  is  chaste  and  holy,  and  supplies 

Earth  with  inhabitants,  and  Heaven  with  souls: 

Many  an  empty  region  mid  the  skies, 

Worlds  embryonic,  hatching  at  the  poles, 
And  at  the  ecliptic,  and  the  zenith's  goals, 

New  orbs,  fomenting  lie,  and  wait  to  hold 
Of  terrene  races  the  superfluous  shoals, 

Where  mortals  immortality  unfold, 

As  seeds  to  flowers  burst  in  fructifying  mold. 

XXXII. 

He  who  hath  life  received,  and  will  not  give 
The  boon  to  others,  perpetrates  a  wrong, 


26  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

And  pilfers  Nature  of  her  purpose.     "Live!" 
Is  but  one  half  the  law:  " Create  a  strong 
And  moral  progeny,  in  succession  long 

As  are  the  hours  of  time ! "  but  supplements 
The  other  half  the  code,  and  speaks  with  tongue 

Suasive  miraculous  arbitrements, 

And  is  on  hearts  writ,  not  on  marble  monuments. 

XXXIII. 

And  there  is  joy  in  Heaven  whene'er  there  's  born 
A  child  on  earth,  for  then  another  son 

Is  born  to  God,  whom  not  the  angels  scorn 
To  recognize  as  brother,  or  as  one 
Of  their  own  kin,  but  gladly  him  they  own 

Their  playmate,  and  a  fellow  heir  of  grace; 
Another  temple  built  of  mind,  not  stone, 

Where  is  enshrined  the  likeness  of  God's  face, 

And  where  His  incarnated  shadow  they  may  trace. 

xxxiv. 

The  feast  was  spread.     There  was  the  common  dish 
Of  lamb  pilau  with  heaps  of  saffroned  rice, 

And,  fried  in  olive  oil,  all  sorts  of  fish; 

The  desert  quail,  stewed  in  a  mess  with  spice, 
And  wild  blue  pigeons;  cates  preserved  in  ice, 

And  candied  sweetmeats :  filled  with  ruby  wine 
Were  vases  bossed  with  gems  and  pearls  of  price — 

With  scent  of  mellow  summer  breathed  the  pine, 

With  beauty's  blushing  cheek  glowed  peach  and  nec- 
tarine. 

XXXV. 

And  round  the  table  glancing  reiliads  fling 


THE  GATHERING  OF  THE  JEWS.  27 

A  wealth  of  sparkling  graces,  smiling  lips, 
Red  with  the  dewy  roses  of  their  spring, 

And  busts  symmetrical,  that  far  eclipse 

The  unresponsive  marble.     Who  but  sips 
The  lotus  of  that  mouth  delicious  sighs 

For  draughts  of  richer  redolence,  where  dips 
Love  his  whole  pharmacy  of  balsam  joys, 
The  nectar  Hymen  yields,  and  only  Love  supplies. 

xxxvi. 

Next  came  the  banquet  of  sweet  sounds,  to  feed 
The  purer  sense,  ethereal  and  refined; 

The  jingling  timbrel,  and  the  piping  reed, 

And  the  horn's  silver  fanfare  tranced  the  mind 
With  pleasaunce  as  the  tuberose  drugs  the  wind. 

Adoram  sang  the  canticle  of  fair 

Abishag,  the  young  Shulamite,  who  pined 

In  the  king's  harem,  for  her  thoughts  were  where 

She'd  breathed  with  him  she  loved  the  joy  of  mount- 
ain air. 


The  brightest  days  distil  the  heaviest  dew; 

Though  thunders  come  with  clouds,  yet  on  a  clear 
Calm  eve  of  summer  through  the  ether  blue 

Will  the  sheet-lightning's  sudden  blaze  appear. 

The  Future  is  a  god  whom  mortals  fear, 
Yet  fain  would  see;  and  the  Unknown  a  sprite 

With  nameless  terror  armed,  above  the  sphere 
Enveloped  in  the  caul  of  pregnant  night, 
Who  hurl  the  shafts  of  fate,  that  wound  where  they 
alight. 


28  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 


Such  were  the  scenes  when  to  the  threshold  back 

Of  Abram  outcast  Hagar  had  returned, 
While  the  pale  crescent  had  retraced  its  track 

To  the  steppes  aboriginal  it  spurned, 

And  on  the  domes  of  mosques  no  longer  burned; 
When  no  more  from  the  shaft  of  minaret, 

His  eyes  toward  the  holy  Mecca  turned, 
Was  heard  the  muezzin  call  when  sun  was  set 
"Allah  is  God,  and  his  great  prophet  Mahomet!" 


But  every  morn  and  evening  to  the  skies 
From  the  new  Temple  on  Moriah's  Hill 

Curled  the  white,  breath-like  smoke  of  sacrifice 
From  tears  of  incense  Indian  trees  distil, 
But  from  no  blood,  forbidden  life  to  kill; 

Such  code  of  mercy  preludes  fit  his  reign 
Who  shall  all  sacrifice  in  love  fulfill, 

Who  all  the  world's  imperial  thrones  shall  gain, 

When  Zion  shall  be  crowned  queen  of  the  earth's  do- 
main. 

XL. 

Now  the  wild  Arab's  tents  are  far  withdrawn 
To  Sinai's  rocks  and  Kedar's  sandy  plains, 

And  harps  are  strung  in  grove  and  dewy  lawn, 
And  on  the  hills  are  heard  exultant  strains, 
Loud  hymns  of  praise,  and  sweet  love's  soft  refrains; 

For  Israel  dwells  in  peace,  a  happy  race, 

And  'neath  the  shade  of  olives  careless  drains 

The  odoriferous  sun-blood,  and  his  face 

Is  bright  with  pride,  not  slouched  from  undeserved 
disgrace. 


THE  GATHERING  OF  THE  JEWS.  29 

XLI. 

And  where  once  Jacob  roamed,  and  David  reigned, 
Now  rules  a  chief  judge,  Himelek  by  name, 

And  Methulah,  the  priest,  who  had  attained 
To  Zadok's  station,  and  to  Nathan's  fame, 
Attends  the  altar  with  perpetual  flame; 

But  no  more  to  the  God-indwelling  sheen, 
When  to  the  inner  sanctuary  he  came, 

That  erst  had  stood  the  cherub's  wings  between, 

Yearly  atonement  made  to  purge  the  people  clean. 

XLII. 
"Then  to  and  fro  shall  men  run  through  the  earth, 

And  shall  increase  in  knowledge,"  are  the  words 
Of  unfallacious  seer;  and  now  goes  forth 

Steam's  Pegasus  along  the  road  that  girds 

The  world  with  iron  zones  as  swift  as  birds 
That  steeple-chase  the  storm;  and  flaming  sprites, 

Subservient,  flourishing  cherubic  swords, 
Unfooted  and  unwinged,  speed  instant  flights, 
Invisible,  down  ocean  depths,  up  mountain  heights, 

XLIIL 
Through  fields  of  air,  through  chambers  of  the  rock ; 

And  carry  thoughts  imponderable  at  command, 
And  write  them  on  the  dial  of  a  clock 

With  a  steel  pen  held  in  a  fiery  hand; 

Mind  questions  distant  mind,  land  answers  land, 
Moments  outstretch  months,  and  weeks  outstrip  years; 

Now  science  waves  around  her  magic  wand; 
And  quicker  in  the  veins  though  blood  careers, 
Yet  longer  man  lives  now,  and  more  than  man  ap- 
pears. 


30  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

XL1V. 

For  all  the  elements,  become  his  slaves, 
Labor  to  do  him  corvee;  he  now  reads 

The  current  of  the  winds,  and  flow  of  waves; 
The  laws  of  life  investigates;  why  seeds 
Grow  bread-corn,  where  the  ground  once  littered 
weeds; 

Why  perish  animals,  and  species  die, 

While  others  are  evolved;  with  scales  and  reeds 

He  weighs  and  measures  atoms  and  the  sky, 

And  cons  what  kind  of  matter  forms  the  worlds  on 
high. 

XLV. 

Then  in  due  season  gave  the  Lord  the  rain, 
The  first  and  latter  showers,  that  oil  and  wine 

And  harvests  might  be  garnered,  pulse  and  grain, 
And  herds  and  flocks,  O  Israel,  might  be  thine, 
And  with  the  Balm  of  Gilead  thy  face  shine, 

Stranger  to  palace  cares,  exempt  from  pain 
As  when  thou  faithful  kept'st  the  law  divine, 

When  thine  was  every  valley,  hill  and  plain, 

From  the  Euphrates'  banks  down  to  the  Syrian  main. 

XLVI. 

As  Tarshish  was  thy  merchant  then,  so  now 
Britain  thee  sends  her  iron,  tin  and  lead; 

To  Sheba,  through  the  sands  thy  camels  plow 
To  fetch  thee  Indian  shawls  to  dress  thy  head, 
Cassia  and  myrrh  and  calamus  to  shed 

Rich  odors  on  thy  clothes,  and  fume  thy  halls, 
And  to  embalm  with  sweets  the  marriage  bed, 

Trinkets  of  gold  to  deck  thy  festivals, 

And  gems  to  ornament  thy  daughters  at  thy  balls. 


THE  GATHERING  OF  THE   JEWS.  31 

XLVII. 

Thy  caravans  now  travel  to  Cathay, 

Thy  ships  to  Gerttile  isles;  wool,  silk,  and  flax 

Hamper  thy  stores,  and  thy  bazaars  display 
The  staples  of  the  world,  heaped  up  in  stacks, 
On  which  thou  pay'st  to  kings  no  odious  tax, 

Nor  fear'st  their  spleen  to  take  what  is  thine  own, 
Nor  dread'st,  as  once  thy  fathers  did,  their  racks, 

That  started  sinews,  crushed  the  flesh  and  bone, 

That  they  might  with  thy  wealth  tinsel  a  shameless 
throne. 


THE  COUNCIL   OF  WAR. 


CANTO    II 


)HE  plow  shall  drive  a  furrow  o'er  their  towers, 

I'll  sow  their  streets  with  salt,  till  not  a  blade 
'Of  grass  shall  grow  in  their  pavilioned  bowers; 
Their  shops  and  palaces  in  ashes  laid, 
A  wilderness  for  death  to  live  in  made; 
Their  celebrated  Temple  I  will  wreck, 

And  'mid  the  ruins,  in  the  pools  shall  wade 
The  bittern  and  the  crane,  and  in  the  brake 
The  serpent  curl  his  length,  and  wreath  his  spotted 
neck!"      . 

ii. 

"  Howl  ye!  for  the  day  of  destruction  's  come! 

I'll  shake  the  earth,  so  that  from  out  her  place 
Zion  shall  be  removed,  and  in  her  tomb 

Buried  forever;  I  will  sweep  the  race 

As  with  a  besom;  pale  shall  be  the  face, 
The  hand  shall  tremble,  and  the  heart  shall  faint 

Of  her  proud  daughters,  with  their  mincing  pace, 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  WAR.  33 

Tinkling  their  bangles,  who  with  kohol1  paint 
The  ogle  of  their  eyne,  and  yet  affect  the  saint." 

in. 

Such  were  the  rabid  words  of  hate  that  spoke 
Gog  of  Mongolia,  king  and  caliph  both; 

And,  as  he  roared,  he  struck  his  breast,  and  woke 
Black  Hell,  with  diabolic  furies  wroth, 
Till  foamed  his  livid  mouth  with  clotted  froth; 

Like  a  wild  boar  that  grins,  his  tush  he  showed 
Ferocious,  and  the  bristly  hairs  that  clothe 

His  scabrous  chin  tugged  till  his  visage  glowed, 

And  rough  as  stormy  rack  his  beard  disordered  flowed. 

IV. 

To  whom  replied  his  vizier,  Ryno,  thus, 

Prostrating  himself  reverently  before 
PI  is  venerated  lord,  the  glorious 

Suzerain  of  mighty  chiefs,  than  monarch  more 

Distinguished  and  esteemed;  for  him  adore 
His  subject  thralls,  who  think  his  awful  nod 

Is  fate's  own  fiat,  and  his  grace  implore; 
Who  fear  his  cruel  and  relentless  rod, 
And  to  him  bow  supine,  their  Delei  Lama  God. 


So  much  in  even  him  had  terror  force 

To  tyrannize  his  nerves,  that  on  his  knees 
Faltered  his  voice  in  deprecation  hoarse, 
-  Confused  and  tremulous;  for  he  shuddering  sees 

iThe  sulphuret  of  antimony. 


34  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

The  color  in  his  master's  cheeks  to  freeze, 
And  phosphor  from  his  elf-shot  eyes  to  glow, 

As  sparkle  of  a  murky  night  the  seas; 
And  well  he  knew  that  tempest  ne'er  did  blow, 
But  it  portended  death,  or  ruin,  wreck  and  woe. 


"They  would  not  grant  thy  heralds  thy  request; 

But  dare  against  thy  mandates  to  rebel, 
And,  under  frivolous  pretexts  of  pest, 

Refuse  thy  forces  in  their  land  to  dwell, 

And  will  their  passage,  arms  in  hand,  repel; 
And  Araby,  where  every  palm-tree  grove, 

Each  oasis  and  defile,  spring  and  well 
Is  theirs,  is  garrisoned,  where  only  move 
Their  caravans  of  trade,  or  harrying  Bedouins  rove. 

VII. 

"  They  are  colleagued  with  every  Frankish  State, 
And  Albion,  who  possesses  Hindostan, 

The  prize  we  covet,  which  makes  her  so  great, 
Is  called  in,  as  a  skilled  physician, 
To  heal  their  sickness;  and  the  charlatan 

Prescribes  conversion  to  the  Christian  faith; 

That  they  may  Jesus,  whom  they  deem  but  man. 

Revere  henceforth  as  God,  and  with  the  breath 

Of  penitential  psalms  atone  his  shameful  death. 

VIII. 

"  To  think  in  iron,  and  to  act  in  steel, 
Is  to  dig  gold  from  out  the  hearts  of  men, 


7 HE  COUNCIL  OF  WAR.  35 

Love  from  the  hatred  and  the  fear  they  feel; 

Who  rules  as  lion  will  o'er  lambkins  reign ! 

The  king  of  birds  was  once  the  saucy  wren ! 
Be  deaf  to  pity,  and  to  suffering  blind, 

Manure  the  earth  with  Jews  and  Christians  slain, 
And  let  the  sweetest  music  of  thy  mind 
Be  freedom's  dying  curse  and  groans  of  human  kind !" 

IX. 

"  But  what  new  scheme  has  England  now  on  foot, 
To  thwart  my  cherished  purpose,  to  invade 

Her  eastern  empire,  and  beneath  my  boot 

Crush  out  her  name  there  with  the  native  aid?  " 
This  answer  the  astute  premier  then  made: 

"The  Sea-Queen,  surfeited,  seeks  not  to  extend 
Her  cumbrous  conquests,  or  to  force  her  trade; 

But  plots,  with  machinations  without  end, 

To  drive  the  Hebrew  Tribes  agains  thee  to  contend." 

x. 

"She  sends  her  missionaries  into  their  land, 
She  opens  schools,  and  prints  religious  books, 

Carries  the  circumcised  from  every  strand, 
From  coral  isles,  and  ocean's  farthest  nooks, 
Back  to  Samaria's  fount  and  Siloa's  brooks, 

Back  to  the  verdant  hills  of  Galilee, 

To  Joppa  back,  that  from  her  window  looks 

Out  on  the  waters  of  the  tideless  sea, 

And  back  to  Jordan's  vale,  and  Hebron's  flowery  lea." 


36  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

XI. 

"  Her  grand  armadas  float  in  every  port, 

With  pilgrims  filled,  returning  to  their  home, 
For  they,  with  weary  shoon,  no  more  resort 

To  London's  bloated  towers,  or  wrecks  of  Rome, 

Or  .to  the  glory  of  our  gilded  dome;1 
No  longer  aliens  at  the  stranger's  hearth, 

No  more  as  Cainite  murderers  they  roam, 
Because  they  slew  their  brother,  but  their  worth 
And  thrifty  virtues  are  acknowledged  through  the  earth.'' 

XII. 

"Phlebotomise  their  wealth,  and  take  a  spoil,     • 

Such  as  at  Delhi  never  Kouli  took ! 
Their  barns  are  warping  with  their  corn  and  oil, 

While  their  sword  is  become  a  priming  hook, 

And  their  spear  turned  into  a  shepherd's  crook." 
So  cunning  counseled,  and  thus  answered  pride : 

"Their  scorn  and  insolence  I  will  not  brook; 
Better  for  them  that  strangled  they  had  died, 
Or  stabbed  by  Herod  been,  when  from  their  mother's 
side" 


"They  had  been  farrowed,  or  ghoul's  eye  looked  on, 
The  plague  had  rot  their  litters;  but  I'll  take 

Their  daughters  captive,  in  derision  crown 

Their  heads  with  nettles  and  sharp  thorns,  and  make 
My  eunuchs  whip  them  till  their  bones  shall  ache 

iThe  dome  of  the  Church  of  St.  Sophia,  converted  into  a 
mosque,  at  Constantinople. 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  WAR.  37 

And  marrow  quiver  with  the  knout  they  wield ; 

Yet  shall  the  fairest  of  the  virgins  slake 
My  thirst  for  lust,  and  these  their  charms  shall  yield, 
And  shall  be  tricked  in  pomp,  that  they  my  state  may 

gild." 

XIV. 

"Send  two  fleet  Tartars  to  demand  the  earth 
And  water,  symbols  of  their  servitude; 

And  if  the  swine  refuse  them,  I'll  let  forth 
My  bloodhounds,  who  shall  make  a  solitude 
Where  Zion  in  her  greedy  sty  has  stood 

Till  grown  too  fat.     Meanwhile,  to  Scythia's  plains 
Dispatch  my  seal,  and  to  the  field  of  blood 

Call  all  my  territories  and  domains, 

From  hyperborean  snows  to  equatorial  rains;" 


"  From  Irkoutsk  and  Archangel  to  Canton; 

The  swarms  of  Sericana,  Thibet's  hordes, 
Mantchourian  clans,  from  Obi  to  the  Don, 

Circassian  chivalry  and  Turkish  swords; 

And  greet  of  all  my  satrapies  the  lords, 
And  bid  them  to  the  feast  that  I  prepare, 

The  banquet  of  the  loathsome  carrion  birds 
That  snuff  the  tainted  corpses  in  the  air, 
For  where  the  carcass  rots  there  is  their  festal  fare. 


Before  the  moon  was  old  a  council,  called 
Of  all  the  Sanhedrim,  was  held  in  state, 
Where  Himelek  presided,  unappalled, 


38  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

Undiscomposed,  although  the  couriers  wait 
An  audience,  to  transmit  their  master's  hate. 
"Admit  the  messengers!  "     Thus  he  outspoke, 

And  thus  the  elder  Mercury:  "The  great 
Kahn,  who  the  Dragon's  hoary  sceptre  broke, 
And  lopped  the  Crescent's  horns  with  his  victorious 
stroke/' 


"Hath  sent  us,  his  ambassadors,  to  demand 

This  province,  which,  if  ye  submissive  yield, 
Ye  still  may  keep,  for  he  will  not  the  land 

Escheat;  and  ye  may  trade,  and  reap,  and  build; 

So  hath  his  clemency  permissive  willed; 
But  ye  must  render  me  of  Jordan's  water 

A  golden  urn,  and  soil  from  out  the  field 
Where  stands  your  Temple — else  prepare  for  slaugh- 
ter; 

None  shall  escape  the  sword,  nor  sire,  nor  son,  nor 
daughter! " 

XVIII. 

Then  rises  Methulah,  down  from  whose  neck 
Fall  the  white  locks  in  curls,  a  foaming  sea, 

And  whose  beard's  silvery  cascades  showery  break 
Over  his  purple  ephod  to  his  knee, 
And  thus  harangues  the  conclave  solemnly : 

"  Death  is  a  demon  to  the  trembling  ghost, 
But  to  the  brave  an  angel  sent  to  free 

The  soldier  from  the  dangers  of  his  post, 

The  forlorn  hope  of  life  girt,  by  an  ambushed  host." 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  WAR.  39 


"  To  die  is  easy  as  to  have  been  bom! 

No  greater  pain  't  will  be  to  draw  our  last 
Gasp,  than  the  first  breath  of  our  infant  morn ; 

And  what  joy  brought  the  present  or  the  past 

Like  that  which  to  us  will  the  future  cast 
From  out  the  hours  in  Fate's  all-ruling  hand, 

When  Time  shall  blow  his  farewell  trumpet  blast, 
Skies  melt  away  in  smoke,  and  seas,  and  land, 
And  all  before  the  cited  Judgment  Seat  shall  stand." 

xx. 

"Are  ye  afraid  to  die  ?     Ye  then  are  dead 

Already!  and  to  live  in  constant  fear 
Is  to  be  always  dying !     What  ye  dread 

Is  what  all  passions  hold  despised  or  dear; 

What,  when  defied,  will  but  a  shade  appear; 
A  phantom  for  revenge  that  thirsts  for  blood, 

For  honor,  love,  and  grief,  to  chase  in  air, 
That  vanishes  to  nothing  when  pursued, 
And  will  not  kiss  the  lips  when  'tis  with  ardor  wooed." 

XXI. 

"  Ye  dread  the  savage  multitudes  that  may 

Be  brought  against  you.     Let  their  numbers  be 
Thick  as  the  rolling  waves  in  Joppa's  Bay, 

Or  finny  shoals  that  continent  the  sea; 

That  army  ''s  always  beaten  shamefully 
In  whose  ranks  enters  first  blue-lipped  dismay; 

And  valor's  crowning  meed  is  victory, 
That  sneaks  not  from  the  battle's  dire  array, 
But  on  his  sword  relies,  and  cuts  through  foes  his  way." 


40  TIME  AND  ETERNI7Y. 


"  The  brave  disdain  to  live,  unless  they  breathe 
The  air  of  freedom ;  they  are  never  slaves : 

If  perils  threaten,  they  will  stare  at  death, 

And  blanch  not  to  behold  their  open  graves,  - 
But  still  will  rush  where  freedom's  banner  waves. 

Think  ye  your  cause  is  then  so  desperate, 
That  ye  should  fear  these  execrable  knaves  ? 

Ye  dare  not  manhood  thus  emasculate, 

But  will,  defiant,  answer  back  their  haughty  threat." 

XXIII. 

"  Your  fathers  fought  against  imperial  Rome, 

Your  mothers,  when  in  want  of  other  food, 
Rather  than  render  up  their  wedded  home, 

Devoured  their  children,  their  own  flesh  and  blood ; 

And  where  ye  stand,  there  "they,  undaunted,  stood. 
Here  is  Jehovah's  sanctuary,  your  trust! 

And  shall  it  be  polluted  by  this  brood 
Of  foul  hyenas  ?     Thou,  O  God,  art  just ! 
Who  will  not  guard  thy  shrine,  let  the  wretch  bite  the 
dust!" 

XXIV. 

He  ended,  scowling,  but  foreboding  gloom 

Weighed  on  his  anxious  breast !  so  the  palm  bends 

Her  branches  pensile  when  the  storm  is  come; 
So  with  its  throbbing  fires  the  cloud  contends, 
Till  the  fused  lightning  its  combustion  spends. 

But  now  the  President  his  speech  begins: 
"  The  fate  of  Zion  on  this  day  depends, 

For  on  this  day  the  crown  of  saints  she  wins, 

Or  felon's  cross  will  gain  for  her  backsliding  sins." 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  WAR.  4 

xxv. 
€<  If  now  we  quail,  in  generous  courage  faint, 

We  must  prepare  our  naked  backs  for  blows, 
All  noble  sentiments  hold  in  restraint, 

All  manly  feeling  that  resentment  knows, 

And  learn  the  coward's  cringing  and  his  bows; 
Learn  how  to  tremble  at  an  angry  frown, 

Learn  how  to  flatter  our  detested  foes, 
How  in  the  dust  to  crouch  prostrated  down, 
And  lick  the  foot  of  every  churlish  fool  and  clown." 

XXVI. 

"It  is  the  craven  heart  and  puny  soul, 

Afraid  of  every  enterprise,  that  is 
A  helot  ever:  it  acts  its  paltry  roll, 

And  nothing  feels  of  the  ennobling  bliss 

Of  aspirations  after  destinies 
More  glorious  than  to  live.     O  Liberty ! 

The  honest  patriot's  apotheosis! 
Intelligential  sun,  that  lights  the  sky, 
In  whose  disk  shadows  turn  power,  pomp,  and  pa- 
geantry," 

XXVII. 

"  Art  thou  eclipsed  in  Israel,  but  to  shine 

As  a  pale  meteor  in  a  land  of  dreams, 
Or  only  live  in  poet's  song  divine, 

Chanting  thy  praise  sublime  in  lofty  themes? 

No;  if  thou  seem'st  consuming  in  the  beams 
Of  thine  own  pyre,  yet,  like  the  Phoenix,  thou 

Wilt  spring  aloft  from  out  thy  funeral  gleams, 
And  glad  the  people's  hearts,  and  in  strength  grow 
While  empires  fall  away  in  dissolution's  throe." 


42  TIME   AND   ETERNITY. 

XXVIII. 

"  Your  fathers  lived  beneath  these  roofs  around, 
And  worshipped  at  these  altars:  will  ye  shame 

Your  lineage,  and  let  them,  leveled  to  the  ground, 
Be  soiled  by  heathen  conquerors,  who  claim 
Honors  divine,  and  scout  Adonai's  name  ? 

Fear  ye  not  then  the  ire  of  God  on  high  ? 

Shrink  ye  not  to  disgrace  your  household  fame  ? 

Is  it  from  furious  men  alone  ye'll  fly  ? 

Ah  no:   Gibeon  would  fight,  in  such  a  cause  would 
die!" 

XXIX. 

He  frounced  his  brow,  and  from  his  scornful  eye 

Shot  wrath  indignant,  and  disdain  and  pride, 
When  silence  followed,  waiting  a  reply. 

At  length  Adoram  ventured,  who  had  dyed 

His  lips  in  Helicon  and  Siloa's  tide: 
"  The  watchful  eye  of  Providence  ne'er  sleeps, 

Although  the  sun  behind  a  cloud  may  hide; 
The  bulrush  trembles  when  the  south  wind  sweeps, 
But  Israel's  heart  faints  not,  but  steady  pulses  keeps." 

XXX. 

"  Tis  a  hard  lesson  to  learn  how  to  die ! 

But  there's  a  task  still  harder:  'tis  to  live 
Contented,  and  surrender  dignity, 

And  honor,  reputation,  fame  survive, 

And  on  the  blows  of  bondage  fat  and  thrive. 
Gog  stretches  forth  his  hand  across  the  globe 

To  clutch  its  mace  imperial,  and  would  drive 
Nations  as  sheep  to  slaughter,  and  them  rob 
Of  that  dear  liberty  for  which  their  yearnings  throb.'"' 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  WAR.  43 

XXXI. 

"  But  more  he  strives  to  gain,  more  he'll  excite 

Celestial  Nemesis;  higher  he  would  fly, 
The  lower  he'll  be  flung  to  shades  of  night 

By  an  inexorable  destiny, 

That  hurls  to  hell  who  seeks  to  mount  the  sky 
Through  crimes  enormous.     Despot  though  he  be, 

Commanding  millions  who  for  him  would  die, 
Yet,  at  the  price  of  his  own  misery, 
That  tyrant  buys  his  liberty  who  would  enslave  the 
free." 

XXXII. 

"In  form  he  is  a  fury,  or  a  devil, 

By  servile  mutes  and  lying  eunuchs  spoiled, 

Baptised  with  curses  by  the  imp  of  evil; 
They  say  that  he  was  born  a  spleenish  child, 
And  never  on  his  care-worn  mother  smiled, 

Who  died  of  grief;  but  in  his  cradle  lay, 
Still  as  the  tiger  crouches  in  the  wild 

Jungle,  couchant  e'er  springing  on  his  prey; 

The  babe's  caress  would  fright  the  nurse  with  dire 
dismay." 

XXXIII. 

"  His  sword  shall  wither  to  a  rotten  staff, 
A  broken  reed  his  sceptre,  and  a  shade 

His  pageant  throne;  around  his  cenotaph 
Shall  antics  dance  the  morris  of  the  dead, 
Foul  gibbering  fetches  twine  his  crownless  head 

With  knotted  chaplets  of  the  Worm  of  Death, 
And  the  chameleon  on  his  trappings  tread; 


44  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

Impatient  fiends  shall  watch  his  parting  breath, 
And  snatch  his  forfeit,  soul  to  burning  wrath  beneath." 

XXXIV. 

"  Hence  let  us  sternly  each  the  other  pledge 
Never  to  yield,  but,  trusting  to  our  right, 

Confront,  determined,  on  the  battle's  edge 
These  infidels,  whatever  be  their  might, 
And  perish  struggling  in  the  storm  of  fight. 

This  vaunting  slave  your  manhood  must  despise, 
This  tyrant  never  must  the  soul  affright 

That's  true  and  loyal,  and  on  God  relies, 

In  whose  hands  are  our  lives,  and  Zion's  destinies." 


The  envoys  were  dismissed,  and  back  returned 

To  where  ascend  Byzantium's  towers,  become 
Gog's  grand  metropolis,  in  whose  brain  burned 

Exasperate  the  aconite  of  doom. 

"  El  Kouds1  shall  be  a  funeral  pyre  and  tomb!  " 
Exclaimed  the  Marut.     "  Let  the  levies  raised 

Here  congregate  beneath  Sophia's  dome, 
Where  the  Jews  may  my  standard  view  amazed, 
Where  Christ  and  Allah  have  been,  but  Budda  now 
is  praised." 

XXXVI. 

"  There  it  is  flaunting,  Death  on  his  pale  horse, 

Type  of  the  spoil  and  ruin  I  intend, 
And  emblem  of  my  desolating  course; 

For  I  will  to  my  rule  all  nations  bend, 

J  The  Arabic  name  for  Jerusalem. 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  WAR.  45 

Or  swarms  cf  ghosts  to  Dura's  furnace  send; 
Where  fiends  wait  them,  and  the  fires  prepare, 

Where,  though  still  burning,  still  shall  never  end 
Their  torments,  for  the  scorching  blasts  of  air, 
And  flaming  rollers  stings  no  drug  can  physic  bear." 

XXXVII. 

'Twas  now  when  Goddesses  together  meet 
On  mountain  tops,  escorted  by  their  train 

Of  smiling  Graces,  and  of  Pleasures  sweet, 
Emergent  from  a  sunny  cloud  of  rain, 
To  pass  in  state  along  the  primrose  plain; 

And  led  by  cloven-footed  Pan,  who  plays 
His  syrinx  to  salute  the  bladed  grain, 

Satyrs  and  Dryads  dance  in  wanton  maze, 

And  hurl  their  sylvan  spells  till  daffodillies  blaze. 

XXXVIII. 

When  Eden  zephyrs,  whose  delicious  breath 

Revives  the  tender  loves  of  early  day, 
Blab  where  the  violets  hide,  and  the  gorze  heath 

Is  counterpaned  with  cloth  of  golden  ray; 

When  marigolds  to  Mary  seem  to  pray, 
And  peeps  round  mossy  roots  of  velvet  bloom 

The  vinca  with  the  blue  eyes  of  a  fay; 
And  a  chance  butterfly  flits  in  our  room, 
Perhaps  some  Psyche  blest  come  back  to  visit  home. 

xxxix. 
And  soon  arrived  the  troops  that  had  been  called : 

From  arctic  ice-floes  came  the  Tungusees, 
Clad  in  bear  skins  and  furs,  whose  face  appalled 


46  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

With  weirdness  sinister,  and  Kergusees, 
With  flattened  nose,  and  beady  eyes  like  peas; 
The  squat  Mantchow,  the  beardless  Calmuck's  horde, 

From  Ischim  steppes  away  to  Corean  seas, 
Iran's  fleet  horse,  Zipangi's  feudal  lord, 
And  Siam's yellow  brood,  and  Pegu's  race  abhorred; 

XL. 
Malays  from  spicy  isles,  the  wandering  tribes 

Of  Beelochistan,  Balk,  and  Tien-Shan, 
Imaums  and  pachas,  muftis,  kadis,  scribes, 

From  Abyssinia  to  Affghanistan, 

And  dusky  Moors  from  Fez  and  the  Soudan, 
Proud  janissaries,  and  praetorian  bands, 

In  lamb's  wool  coifed,  and  plushed  in  silk  caftan. 
Skilled  to  hurl  javelins  with  unerring  hands, 
And  toss  the  swift  djereed,  lissome  as  jugglers'  wands. 

XLI. 
The  infantry,  the  ambulance,  and  train 

Of  baggage  are  embarked,  and  steam  along 
The  Hellespont,  until  the  shore  they  gain 

Immortalized  in  dreams  of  epic  song, 

That  chanted  Priam's  death,  and  Helen's  wrong; 
Where  sunny  bays  lie  smiling  in  the  sand, 

And  hundred-footed  Ida  clouds  among, 
The  lonely  Genius  of  the  classic  strand, 
Talks  with  departed  gods  and  heroes  of  the  land 

XLII. 

Hence  this  contingent,  under  the  command 
Of  the  vizier,  by  fire-cars  were  conveyed 
To  Sardis,  for  now  iron  girders  spanned 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  WAR.  47 

Where  once  flowed  golden  waves;  and  there  they 

made 

A  flying  camp,  beneath  the  plane  tree's  shade : 
Meanwhile  the  king,  with  the  remaining  forces, 

The  mounted  troops,  that  could  through  rivers  wade, 
Had  crossed  to  Scutari,  with  all  the  horses, 
Camels,  mules,  and  asses,  and  reached  the  Typhon's 
sources, 

XLIII. 

Near  to  where  Baal-bek,  restored  again 
To  pristine  opulence,  with  splendor  shone, 

Where  was  rebuilt  the  Syrian  sun-god's  fane, 
But  late  become  Jehovah's  shrine  and  stone, 
A  sumptuous  sanctuary  of  pillared  stone; 

The  boundary  of  what  was  now  the  realm 

Of  Heber's  sons,  whence  they  had  sudden  gone; 

Too  well  assured  the  devastating  flame 

To  shard  heaps  would  this  outpost  of  their  sceptre 
whelm. 

XLIV. 

A  hundred  years  before,  among  its  mounds 

The  jackalls  scraped  their  holes,  and  nightly  prowled, 

And  swift  gazelles  by  day  scoured  o'er  its  grounds; 
Amid  its  vaulted  crypts  hyenas  growled, 
Bats  and  screech-owls  its  quoins  and  friezes  foulde, 

And  robber  Druses  their  mud  hovels  made 

'Gainst   sculptured   basements,    and   on   strangers 
scowled ; 

But  now  it  was  again  a  mart  of  trade, 

And  temples  multiform  and  palaces  displayed. 


48  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 


A  strong  detachment  here  Gog  left  behind, 
Mount  Lebanon  to  watch,  and  hold  the  town; 

Then  pushed  on  rapidly,  that  he  might  bind 
Es  Sham1  in  chains,  its  towers  tumble  down, 
And  mosques  defile,  which  minarets  no  more  crown, 

Now  cupola-capped  synagogues;  but  found 

The  Jews  had  from  his  threatened  vengeance  flown ; 

And  when  throughout  the  streets  his  Cossacks  wound, 

They  only  heard  the  clank  of  their  horse-hoofs  to 
sound. 

XLVI. 

The  caliph  city  had  become  the  prey 

Of  spoilers  worse  than  wolves,  the  Phoenix  sprung 

So  often  from  the  dust  to  light  of  day, 

Earth's  ancient  borough,  which  was  only  young 
At  Hebron's  birth,  when  Abram  praises  sung 

To  a  God  alien  in  a  lisping  song, 

And  infant  Babel  her  rude  cithern  strung 

Mid  clumps  of  palms  her  willow  banks  along, 

And  of  primeval  tribes  Mizraim  alone  was  strong — 

XLVII. 
Damascus,  long  renowned  for  lush  delights, 

For  gurgling  runnels,  and  for  pleasant  groves, 
And  cafes  hung  at  night  with  colored  lights, 

Mid  gardens  where  the  bulbuls  sing  their  loves 

In  psalms  so  holy  not  a  zephyr  moves 
The  golden  pollen  from  the  citron's  flowers; 

Where  pulsate  with  the  cooing  of  the  doves 

l  The  Arabic  name  for  Damascus. 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  WAR.  49 

Man's  thoughts  voluptuous,  and  love  overpowers 
The  yielding  heart,  bewitched  by  the  soft  twilight  hours : 

XLVIII. 
Where  hum  of  bees  the  buzzing  woodland  swarms, 

Where  in  the  blaze  of  the  baked  window-sill 
The  salamander  sleeps,  and  on  his' shawms 

The  eldritch  beetle  hails  the  evening  still  ; 

Where  on  the  Pharphar's  dock  and  fennel  frill 
The  glow-worm  Hero  lights  her  bridal  lamp, 

To  guide  her  own  Leander  from  the  hill; 
On  dog-rose  heath  where  crickets  trench  their  camp, 
And  rattle  their  castanets  the  frogs  in  meadows  damp. 

XLIX. 

In  this  abandoned  town  the  khan  awaits 

The  approach  of  his  lieutenant,  who  his  way 
Had  expedited,  till  within  the  gates 

Of  Syria's  capital,  past  many  a  bay 

And  promontory,  whence  he  might  survey, 
In  the  far  distance,  Cyprus,  as  a  haze 

Welded  of  sea  and  sky  in  a  clear  day; 
And  nearer,  on  idyllic  glens  might  gaze, 
On  Taurus'  turbaned  brow  of  oaks  and  pines  and 
bays. 

L. 
A  sentinel  towards  the  desert  stands 

Aleppo,  with  its  lime  and  lemon  woods, 
Beleaguered  by  an  enemy  of  sands, 

Sombre  and  melancholy  solitudes, 

Wrhere  life  contends  with  death  in  ceaseless  feuds; 
Yet  patches  of  tobacco  and  com  gem 


50  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

With  amber  verdure  its  close  neighborhoods, 
And  snowy  cotton  fields  the  borders  hem 
Of  the  brown  waste  that's  bronzed  by  the  sirocco's 
flame. 

LI. 
Now  through  a  russet  heath,  now  florid  vale, 

Past  the  Orontes  rattles  on  the  train, 
Fire-harnessed,  thundering  o'er  the  iron  rail, 

In  net  vulcanic  woven,  till  they  gain 

Where  streams  meandering  irrigate  the  plain, 
And  green  what  else  would  be  a  wilderness, 

Teeming  with  summer  fruits  and  golden  grain ; 
And  here  they  join  Gog's  squadron's  numberless, 
That  bivouac  in  this  elysian  loveliness. 

L1I, 

The  grace  of  sylvan  cloisters,  lilies  string, 

On  rosaries  each  hour  a  snow  white  bell, 
And  with  their  voice  of  perfume  matins  sing, 

And  like  pale  nuns  their  beads  with  unction  tell; 

While  watching  graves  sits  green,  cold  asphodel, 
The  ghost  of  flowers;  hands  folded  as  in  prayer, 

Prays  the  wood-sorrel,  hermit  of  the  dell ; 
And,  messengers  of  life,  the  swallows  bear — 
True  birds  of  Paradise,  tidings  of  summer  air. 


THE    ENCAMPMENT. 


CANTO    III. 


HE  rails  had  been  torn  off,  the  culverts  broken, 

Bridges  blown  up,  towards  Jerusalem; 
So  for  a  hansel,  and  vindictive  token 
Of  ills  to  come,  to  the  devouring  flame 
The  city  was  consigned,  that  hence  its  name 
Might  perish  from  the  earth;  and  centuries  after, 

When  to  the  blackened  ruin  pilgrims  came, 
They  heard  no  sound  of  revelry  or  laughter, 
But  sorrel,  blanched  and  sere,  sighed  from  the  mould- 
ering rafter; 

ii. 
And  from  the  rushes  in  its  reeky  fens 

Stalked  the  malaria  forth  as  from  its  grave 
Steals  silently  the  ghost;  and  from  their  dens 
The  lions  howled  where  withered  brackens  wave 
O'er  fallen  columns;  and  the  whirlwinds  rave 
To  waterspouts  that  call  from  deep  to  deep; 

And  lords  of  moss-grown  aisle  and  crumbling  nave 
Of  rifled  tombs  and  temples,  lizards  creep 
Where  pomp  and  beauty  blazed,  but  now  in  ashes 
sleep. 


52  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

III. 
From  what  had  late  been  luxury's  delight, 

Now  a  scarred  carcass,  on  their  way  proceed 
The  Terror  towards  Zion;  so  alight 

A  plague  of  locusts  on  an  April  mead, 

Destroying  with  a  pestilential  greed 
The  milky  spears  of  wheat  with  bearded  glume; 

So  on  the  hills  of  Judah  ravenous  spread 
The  caterpillar's  legions,  and  consume 
The  vines  and  melon  beds,  and  summers  ripening 
bloom. 

IV. 

Where'er  they  marched,  through  wood  of  pine  or  oak, 

O'er  grassy  champaign,  or  through  flowery  dell, 
Their  footsteps  might  be  tracked  by  clouds  of  smoke, 

By  lurid  flames  or  smouldering  fires  of  hell, 
The  carse  so  ravined  none  there  hence  could  dwell. 
They  cross  the  Jordan's  tide  below  the  lake 

Of  Merom,  at  a  ford  their  guides  knew  well; 
And  then  the  road  to  Capernaum  take, 
Where  Christ  the  servant  healed  for  his  good  master's 
sake. 

v. 
Where  he,  the  glory  and  the  shame  of  men, 

Along  the  dunes  with  stars  his  vigils  passed, 
While  couched  the  coney  in  his  tunnelled  den, 

And  callow  broods  were  laid  in  slumber  fast 

In   their   warm    nests;   him  smote    the    midnight 

blast, 
As  wearied  with  uninterrupted  tread 

That  lonely  beach  he  paced,  by  grief  o'ercast : 


THE  ENCAMPMENT.  53 

Beast  to  his  lair  had  crept,  bird  to  his  bed, 

The  Son  of  Man  had  not  where  he  could  lay:  his  head. 

VI. 

They  coursed  by  Magdala,  famous  by  the  faith 

Of  a  sick  woman's  love,  in  sorrow  strong, 
The  first  who  heard  alive  the  voice  of  death 

Beatified ;  Tiberias  along 
That  sea,  on  which  have  human  feet  among 
Its  crested  billows  walked,  as  on  firm  ground; 

And  holy  Nazareth,  where  angel's  song 
Hailed  Mary,  full  of  grace,  on  earth  renowned, 
In    Heaven    exalted,   for   thou  hast  Heaven's  favor 
found. 

VII. 

O  mystery !  beyond  the  depth  of  thought ! 

Beyond  the  sense  of  wisdom's  blinded  eyne ! 
With  wondrous  meaning  to  all  ages  fraught! 

Although  no  consort  to  a  spouse  divine, 

What  honor  can  beside  thy  glory  shine? 
For  if  in  human  flesh  a  God  e'er  dwelt, 

'Twas  in  thy  dear  son's  chanty  benign : 
The  bleeding  heart  to  thee  and  him  hath  knelt, 
And  for  that  prayer  stronger,  better,  purer  felt. 

VIII. 

How  different  was  thine  errand  here,  O  king 
Of  carnage  and  of  death !  Not  to  salute 

Faith,  the  mother  of  Peace,  and  his  birth  sing, 

*   As  Bethlehem's  minstrels,  with  the  harp  and  lute, 
Greeting  good-will  to  men;  but  as  a  brute 

In  whom  had  Satan  entered,  didst  thou  come, 


54  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

Begrimed  with  every  hellish  attribute, 
Denouncing  war's  exterminating  doom, 
And  ready  to  convert  the  earth  into  a  tomb. 


Thence  thou  didst  move  on  Shunem,  to  attain 
The  craggy  denies,  sheltered  by  a  wood, 

And  soon  the  cover  of  the  thickets  gain, 

Where  erst  the  Philistine  encampment  stood, 
Before  the  field  that  flowed  a  lake  of  blood; 

And  there  thine  army  draw  up,  line  on  line, 
In  martial  order,  a  dense  multitude, 

Innumerable  amidst  the  scraggy  pine, 

That  thick   with   glimmering   spears   and    glancing 
bayonets  shine. 

x. 
Meanwhile,  had  Israel's  ruler  missives  sent 

By  lightning  couriers,  to  request  the  aid 
Promised  by  Britain,  wrho  a  settlement 

Had  formed  in  Egypt,  and  its  peoples  swayed, 

And  to  whom  all  willing  obedience  paid, 
Copt,  Nubian,  Negro,  Berber,  Frank,  and  Moor ; 

Who  on  the  banks  of  Nile  had  firmly  laid 
The  strong  foundations  of  her  Indian  power, 
Her  empire  stretching  thence  to  Ceylon  and  Lahore. 

XI. 

An  army  vast  of  centaur  Mamelukes 

And  Spahisshe  had  raised,  and  black  Sepoys; 

The  Saxon  cool  was  there,  and  Celt,  who  brooks  ** 
Impatient  the  curbed  bridle,  but  enjoys 
The  sport  of  battle  with  its  din  and  noise; 


THE  ENCAMPMENT.  55 

More  rash  than  steady,  volatile  than  sage; 

The  gold  of  courage,  who  with  dross  alloys 
Of  quarrels  vain;  the  hero  of  the  stage, 
Irrepressible  whether  love  or  war  he  wage. 

XII. 

These  levies  were  under  the  sole  command 

Of  gray-haired  Alpin  placed,  a  veteran 
Who  had  for  years  with  wisdom  ruled  the  land, 

Sagacious  in  the  field  or  the  divan; 

No  ballet  fop,  no  dwarfling  of  a  man, 
No  puppet  with  an  ancient  pedigree, 

Tricked  in  old  threadbare  raiment;  shrewd  to  plan, 
And  prompt  to  execute,  and  just  was  he ; 
Gentle  yet  firm,  and  kind  in  his  severity. 

XIII. 

Loved  by  his  soldiers,  cherished  by  his  king, 
And  self-respected  by  his  own  proud  soul, 

He  was  no  wittol  courtier,  fluttering 

In  state  levees,  dizened  in  Momus's  stole, 
With  a  fool's-cap  and  feathers  on  his  poll, 
Grinning  for  favors;  but  on  his  own  head 
Alone  relied  to  help  him  to  the  goal 

He  had  attained,  and  where  that  mentor  led 

He  never  feared,  with  sword  in  hand,  that  way  to 
tread. 

XIV. 

On  board  of  transports  were  these  troops  dispatched, 

In  the  bright  honey-zephyred  month  of  May, 
When  cottage  roofs  with  netted  vines  are  thatched, 

5 


56  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

And  with  sweet  woodbines'  coral  bugles  gay, 

Or  the  wisteria's  cerulean  spray. 
They  safely  anchored  in  the  open  port, 

Where  the  sea-dragon  held  the  nymph  at  bay, 
Till  her  deliverer  with  the  monster  fought; 
Late  of  immigrants,  now  of  soldiers  the  resort. 

xv. 

Within  the  town  are  narrow,  tortuous  streets, 
Training  the  smell  of  noisome  sewerage; 

Yet  here  and  there  a  doddered  tower  greets 
The  stroller,  remnants  of  a  former  age, 
Fit  contemplation  for  the  musing  sage; 

For  there  are  epics  writ  on  each  cut  stone, 
Let  into  shapeless  walls  at  every  stage, 

Torn  from  a  triglyph  or  a  propyleon, 

Where  lonely  ruins  mark  Csesarea's  glory  gone. 

XVI. 

And  many  more  auxiliars  had  arrived : 
Greeks  from  artistic  Hellas;  from  Trieste 

Hungarians,  who  their  Teuton  bonds  had  rived, 
And  formed  an  independent  kingdom,  blest 
With  peace  and  union,  and  were  grandly  drest 

In  gilded  uniforms,  with  slash  and  braid, 
Fierce  as  a  winged  gryphon's  flaming  crest; 

Germania's  sturdy  sons  had  been  conveyed; 

Muscovite  and  Pole,  the  red-haired  Dane,  and  blue- 
eyed  Swede. 

XVII. 

Hither  had  also  mustered  martial  Gauls, 
Mercurial,  and  inconstant,  and  yet  brave, 


THE  ENCAMPMENT.  57 

Who  follow  Glory's  voice  where'er  she  calls; 
And  now  the  ensign  of  the  Lark  *  they  wave, 
Trolling  a  trouvere  ballad  to  trie  grave : 

Ausonia's  noble  race,  regenerated, 
No  more  to  foreign  tyranny  a  slave, 

But  by  their  bloody  baptism  renovated, 

Had  for  their  holy  faith  a  brigade  here  translated. 

XVIII. 

And  Celtiberian  gallantry  had  sent, 

In  honor  of  the  Virgin  and  her  Son, 
A  patient,  hard-enduring  armament, 

And  offered  vows  to  images  of  stone, 
To  shield  from  sacrilege  Jehovah's  throne; 
And  from  the  austral  shore,  with  sands  of  gold, 

And  rocks  of  brass,  had  men  of  iron  bone, 
And  thews  of  steel,  in  adamantine  mould, 
Been  here  dispatched,  a  small  contingent  staunch  and 
bold. 

XIX. 

Beside  these,  there  was  yet  another  band — 
A  brotherhood  of  knightly  volunteers — 

Culled  from  the  youth  of  Freedom's  chosen  land, 
Whither  the  orb  of  mundane  empire  steers 

To  blaze  in  glory  through  the  western  spheres; 

Who  had  sworn  Zion's  altars  to  protect 
From  pillage,  and  avenge  her  sacred  tears? 

Or,  in  the  ardent  enterprise  be  wrecked, 

Of  all  the  Christian  arms  the  chivalry  select. 

(1)  The  Lark   was   the  standard  of  the  Gaulish  contingent 
whom  Julius  Caesar  led  into  Italy. 


58  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 


These  divers  nationalities  obeyed, 

Each  its  own  captain,  but  the  others  yielded 

Precedence  to  the  English  chief,  and  paid 

Him  due  submission;  and  he  gently  wielded, 
Yet  firmly,  the  authority,  nor  builded 

An  arrogance  offensive,  nor  a  vain 

Pride  of  command,  the  player's  staff  that's  gilded, 

And  not  a  marshall's  truncheon,  that  with  pain, 

Deep  thought,  and  anxious  care,  can  only  soldiers  gain. 

XXI. 

Night  wraps  her  mantle  round  the  shivering  stars, 
While  spring-wort's  candles  light  the  elves  to  sleep: 

Alike  the  hum  of  peace,  and  roar  of  Mars 

Nod  in  life-aping  dreams.     Now  from  the  deep 
Cave  of  the  past  long  buried  memories  leap 

Reanimated  from  the  dust,  and  greet 

The  overburdened  heart  till  it  must  weep! 

With  friends  deceased  again  the  living  meet, 

And  tread  their  mile-stone  road  of  life  with  backward 
feet. 


The  season  of  the  rainbow-tinctured  flowers, 
Daughters  of  sunshine  and  the  dew  of  night, 

Had  gone  to  seed,  when  through  the  garden  bowers, 
Besprent  with  haze  of  leucothean  light, 
While  yet  the  stars  the  face  of  Heaven  dight, 

Alpin  led  forth  his  squadrons  through  the  town, 
Past  fields  of  flax  and  hemp,  and  hedges  bright 

With  roses,  bursting  like  our  hopes,  ere  blown 

By  disappointment's  blast,  they  are  forever  flown. 


7 HE  ENCAMPMENT.  59 

XXIII. 

Skirting  the  base  of  Carmel's  wooded  height, 
Near  great  rocks  shadowing  the  land  they  pass, 

Then  on  the  banks  of  Kishon's  stream  alight, 
Where  lambs  were  frisking  on  the  tender  grass, 
And  the  larks  carolling  over  them,  alasl 

Their  epithalamium,  of  many  there 
The  threnody,  as  litany  at  mass, 

Or  vespers  sweet,  or  swinging  in  the  air 

From  Heaven's  threshold  bells  that  call  the  blest  to 
prayer. 

XXIV. 

Kishon,  that  ancient  river,  where  the  stars 
Fought  in  their  courses  against  Sisera, 

When  there  arose  to  rule  the  tribal  wars 
A  mother,  prophetess  and  conqueror, 
In  Israel,  wiser  than  her  captains  were; 

"When  Jael,  who  her  country's  sorrows  wept, 
Softly  to  where  reposed  the  warrior, 

Her  nation's  scourge,  with  nail  and  mallet  crept, 

And  drove  the  sharp  death  in  his  temple  as  he  slept. 


Near  to  the  clachan  of  Megiddo  was 

Encamped  the  Hebrew  army  in  their  tents, 
Hard  by  the  mazard  of  a  rocky  pass, 

By  forts  protected  and  strong  armaments; 

And  there  his  quarters  on  the  steep  ascents 
Alpin  arrayed:  and  now  down  to  the  fall 

Of  the  spring-flood  from  mountain  rifts  and  repts, 
Were  heard  the  drum's  tattoo,  and  bugle's  call, 
And  bale  fires  seen  to  burn  on  every  pinnacle. 


60  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

XXVI. 

A  million  soldiers  were  drawn  up  to  fight 
For  Jewry  in  the  plain  of  Armageddon 

Against  three  millions  on  the  opposite  height, 
By  Gog,  the  Anti-Christ  blasphemer,  led  on, 
The  dread  Avatar  of  the  fierce  Abaddon, 

The  Emperor  of  the  shades  of  death  below, 

Whose  rage  transfused  in  him  and  hatred  gad  on 

The  wretch  in  his  career  of  bloody  woe, 

As  a  bull  mad  with  stings  when  flies  upon  him  blow. 

XXVII. 

They  had  been  stationed  here  for  several  days, 
When  just  as  boomed  the  camp's  meridian  gun, 

The  light  grew  dark  to  their  intense  amaze, 
As  if  with  sack-cloth  on  it  mourned  the  sun, 
And  nature  had  her  funeral  pall  put  on; 

The  air  felt  dead,  and  scarce  could  creatures  breathe, 
Scarce  could  the  beasts  stir  in  the  thickets  dun, 

To  his  hole  slunk  the  snake  for  fear  of  death, 

And  ravens  ceased  to  fly,  but  floated  o'er  the  heath. 

XXVIII. 

A  calm  ensued,  so  still,  ne'er  was  a  storm 

More  terrible,  strange  fear  seized  fainting  men — 

No  wonder!  for  in  Heaven  appeared  a  form, 
Meek  as  a  paschal  lamb  led  to  be  slain, 
That  to  the  right  hand  of  the  Throne  where  reign 

All  Power  and  Love  stepped,  and  the  Book  of  Fate 
Took  from  his  Father's  hand,  and  loosed  the  chain, 

And  broke  the  seal,  when  all  the  hosts  elate 

With  joy,  saluted  Him,  who  there  in  glory  sat; 


THE  ENCAMPMENT.      ^  61 

XXIX. 

And  there  was  solemn  silence  for  a  space, 

That  held  in  trance  the  glad  empyrean. 
Then  closed  the  skies;  and  there  was  seen  to  race 

A  shooting  star,  that  from  the  groundsill  ran 

Of  Paradise,  and  in  a  moment's  span 
Lit  on  the  top  of  Tabor's  mount,  and  shone 

A  lustrous  spirit  with  the  face  of  man, 
And  blew  a  trumpet  with  a  piercing  tone, 
So  shrill,  it  curdled  frore  the  liquid  blood  to  stone 

XXX. 

In  living  hearts  that  heard  it.     Then  great  voices, 
Intoned  in  thunder,  through  the  startled  air 

Exclaimed: — "The  kingdom  of  this  world  rejoices, 
Because  that  soon  along  the  starry  sphere 
In  clouds  of  glory  will  the  Lord  appear." 

And  from  embattled  sabaoth  on  high, 
In  various  cadence  rising,  falling,  clear, 

Responses  echoed  in  the  trembling  sky, 

Rolling  through  countless  orbs  in  the  infinity: — 

XXXL 

"  We  thank  Thee  that  Thou  hast  resumed  Thy  reign, 
For  angry  are  the  nations;  but  Thy  wrath 

Will  soon  begin.     Then  shall  to  life  again 
Rise  from  the  clod,  as  vernal  flowers  rathe, 
The  virtuous  dead,  and  follow  on  the  path 

That  leads  to  days  eternal;  nor  disdain 

Wrilt  Thou  Thy  saints  elect,  the  scattered  swath 

Mown  down  by  Death's  sharp  scythe,  who  suffered 
pain 


62  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

And  martyrdom,  whose  robes  are  washed  without  a 
stain." 

XXXII. 

Again  the  portals  of  the  azure  wide 

Unfolded,  and  displayed  the  golden  Ark 

Within  the  Temple;  whence  a  rushing  tide 
Of  swirling  hail  and  snow  drifts  burst  the  dark 
Chambers  of  air,  and  meteors  flash  and  spark, 

Explosive  with  tempestuous  flame  and  smoke: 
Hark  to  the  herald's  joyful  tidings,  hark ! 

"  The  power  of  Sin  and  Satan  shall  be  broke, 

And  Death  and  Hell  shall   yield  to  the   Messiah's 
yoke!" 

XXXIII. 

Lo!  a  third  wonder!     Through  the  welkin  flies, 

Black  as  the  shadow  of  Apollyon, 
An  Angel,  casting  in  the  shuddering  skies 

The  Seventh  Plague  from  out  a  Vial,  whence  run 

Wars,  pestilence,  and  famine,  till  the  sun 
Sweats  drops  of  blood  in  agonizing  woes, 

And  from  the  Throne  a  voice  calls  "  It  is  done!" 
Immediately  the  earth's  parturient  throes 
Ripped  its  Cyclopean  womb  till  isles  sunk  and  seas 
rose. 


Quick  heaved  the  ground,  as  billows  of  the  main, 
In  undulations  of  gigantic  waves, 

That  mountains  seemed  to  walk  across  the  plain; 
Then  cracks  in  veins,  and  gaps,  and  hollow  caves, 
Of  thousand  cities  the  engulfing  graves. 

Church  steeples  rock,  cathedral  towers  creak, 


THE  ENCAMPMENT.  63 

And  bury  with  their  ruins  aisles  and  naves; 
The  palaces  of  kings  to  fragments  break, 
And  in  their  sepulchres  the  dead  from  sleep  awake. 


The  living  quail,  and  utter  piercing  screams, 
Heart-rending,  for  they  think  the  day  of  doom 

Is  come,  and  that  the  lurid  crimson  beams, 

Which  through  the  pitchy  clouds  with  anger  loom, 
Are  lightnings  pausing  ere  their  bolts  consume; 

That  Fate  was  tolling  for  the  death  of  Time 
A  funeral  knell  ere  laid  in  nature's  tomb, 

And  sung  his  dirge  in  elegiac  rhyme 

Of  thunder  trump  and  whirlwind    harp    in   storms 
sublime. 


Sin  is  the  nurse  of  fear;  yet  impious  Gog 
Preserved  a  steady  brow,  composed,  serene, 

Because  the  Dragon  had  inspired  the  dog 

With  sanguine  hopes;  and  when  they  saw  his  mien 
Brazed  and  erect,  his  trembling  subjects  ween 

Him  the  Almighty,  and  the  awful  signs 

His  work,  which  they  had  with  such  wonder  seen, 

Some  new  invention  of  his  grand  designs — 

Miracles    of    his   power!    "  See    how  his    godhead 
shines  1" 

XXXVII. 

And  there  were  many  Christians  and  Jews  both, 
Who,  though  they  on  the   portents   looked  with 

dread, 
Yet  trusted  in  their  cause,  and  were  not  loth 

5* 


64  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

To  risk  the  battle's  issue;  but  the  head 
Of  guilt  in  peace  slept  not  that  night  in  bed, 
But  by  grim  apparitions  was  enthralled; 

And  if  the  wind  but  a  low  moaning  made, 
Or  shadow  passed,  they  thought  that  they  were  called 
By  some  blood-sprinkled  ghost,  and  quaked,  and  were 
appalled. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON. 


CANTO  IV, 


ROUND  their  camp  the  Christian  armies  raised 
Earthworks,  embankments,  and  casemated  walls, 
And  sloping  glacis  cut  where  late  had  grazed 

The  antelope,  but  where  no  longer  falls 
His  frightened  hoof,  that  every  noise  appals; 
And  ditches  delved  with  rigid  palisade, 

Planted  with  death  behind,  impervious  malls, 
And  parapets,  redoubts,  and  ramparts  made, 
And  on  the  walls  and  rathes  long  tiers  of  cannons 
laid, 

IL 

At  all  the  stations  guards  were  set  to  watch 
The  country  round  for  fear  of  a  surprise; 

And  oft  an  aide-de-camp,  in  quick  dispatch, 
From  van  to  rear,  and  from  an  outpost  hies 
To  where  the  staff  in  central  quarters  lies. 

Here  on  a  plateau's  spur,  there  in  a  dell, 

A  marshalled  squadron  's  drilled  for  exercise; 

And  in  the  night  the  tread  of  sentinel 

Is  heard,  who  challenges  the  watchword,  "  All  is 
well." 


66  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

III. 
And  often  in  the  stilly  air  the  hum 

Of  mustering  legions  breaks  the  solitude 
Of  Carmel's  oaken  summits;  and  the  drum 

With  doubling  echoes  startles  in  the  \vood 

The  wild  boar  crunching  acorns  for  his  food; 
And  oft  at  set  of  sun  the  flaming  spears, 

And  gleaming  bayonets  of  the  multitude 
Disturb  the  flocks  of  geese  with  panic  fears, 
And  rout  their  phalanxed  wedge  as  through  the  cloud 
it  steers. 

IV. 

At  many  a  camp-fire  then  some  youth  beguiled 
The  dreary  watch  by  tales  of  by-gone  days, 

When,  like  a  mother,  Fate  had  on  him  smiled, 
And  Hope,  had  sung  him  sleep,  with  syren  lays, 
To  waken  up,  and  at  the  nightmare  gaze : 

Her  pillared  arch  of  opal  in  the  sky 
So  Iris  builds  with  dewy  light  ablaze, 

The  gate  of  cloudy  palaces  on  high, 

Till  thunder  storms  strike  down  the  specious  masonry. 


And   then    douce  thoughts  of  home,   to  touch  soft 
hearts, 

Would  rise,  expressed  in  sympathetic  sighs, 
Till  on  the  burning  eyeball  a  tear  starts, 

And  some  fair  girl  appears  before  fond  eyes — 

Some  image  hallowed  by  pure  memories ! 
O !  talk  of  glory  to  the  dead  in  war ! 

To  the  crushed  flower  of  primaveral  skies! 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON.  67 

Of  light  and  splendor  to  the  fallen  star ! 
But  of  the   love  of  home  speak  not  where  warriors 
are! 

VI. 

Yet  sacred  melancholy  reigns  not  alone, 
The  jovial  song  and  merry  jest  go  round; 

The  Highland  bagpipes  blow  their  squealing  drone, 
And  Highland  reels  beat  measure  to  the  sound, 
And  Irish  heels  with  frisky  jigs  rebound : 

The  Celtic  blood  at  danger's  all  astir, 
And  where  the  battle  is  its  joy  is  found, 

A  stoic  brave,  yet  gay  philosopher, 

A  mummer  dancing  blithe  above  his  sepulchre. 

VII. 

But  now  the  withered  ghost  of  squalid  want 

Flits  through  the  camp:  on  desiccated  bones, 
And  moldy  bread  they  fared,  with  rations  scant; 

Hence   through   the   spital  tents  were   heard  the 
groans 

Of  soldiers  sick  and  dying,  and  the  moans 
Of  helplessness,  and  ravings  of  despair, 

Till  stalwart  men  shrunk  into  skeletons! 
And  one  would  curse,  another  say  a  prayer, 
While  what  alone  was  fed  was  grim  and  gnawing  care. 

VIII. 

They  could  not  draw  supplies  from  neighboring  lands, 
For  scouts  incessant  scoured  the  bridle  roads, 

To  intercept  convoys  and  forage  bands: 
Marasmus  oft  a  maniac  explodes, 
And  suicides  were  frequent  episodes. 


68  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

Well  did  Gog  know  how  famine  thinned  their  hosts, 

So  he  could  wait  its  lenten  stings  and  goads, 
That  sent  them  fasting  to  the  feast  of  ghosts, 
While  daily  forward  he  pushed  on  his  advanced  posts. 


The  season,  too,  was  adverse,  for  a  drought 

Flayed  the  land  bare;  the  green-eared   corn  was 
struck 

By  blistering  winds,  and  the  charred  grain  fell  out 
From  the  spikes  blasted ;  fruits  that  could  not  brook 
The  sultry  noon,  were  shriveled  to  a  ruck, 

Dried  by  the  chymic  flame  till  mummified, 

Or  from  the  boughs  dropped  in  a  heap  of  muck ; 

Frizzled  the  leafy  verdure  was  and  fried, 

And  trunks  of  forest  trees  split  to  their  cores  and  died. 

x. 

For  days,  for  weeks,  for  months,  the  crimson  sun 
Rose  and  it  set,  the  moon  waxed  and  moon  waned, 

And  the  stars  shone  without  a  cloudlet  on 
The  torrid  sky:  by  day,  a  window  paned 
With  burnished  silver,  without  blemish  stained; 

By  night,  a  gray  white  sheet  of  steel,  inlaid 

With  diamond  spangles;  and  then  stillness  reigned 

As  heavy  as  an  atmosphere  of  lead, 

And  the  torpedo  clime  with  lightnings  stung  the  head. 

XI. 

Sometimes  a  whirlwind  would  arise,  and  lift 

Columns  of  dust  from  off  the  squamous  soil, 
And  scatter  them  aloft  to  whirl  and  drift 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON.  69 

For  miles  along,  in  many  a  spiral  coil, 
As  runs  some  monster  to  overtake  a  spoil; 
Or  the  air,  sucking  moisture  from  the  ground, 

Twirled  and  vibrated  in  a  sparkling  pile, 
Where  seething  ponds  in  scorched  ravines  abound, 
Whence  stench  of  loathing  comes  from  frequent  slime- 
pits  round. 

XII. 

And  once  there  blew,  as  from  an  oven's  mouth, 
A  heated  kamseen,  with  his  choking  breath, 

Parched  by  the  sand-storm  of  the  fiery  south; 
And  suddenly  a  cloud  swept  o'er  the  heath — 
A  pestilence,  whose  trail  was  tracked  by  death — 

Of  flies,  on  limber  scale  or  gauzy  wing, 

Blackening  the  air  above,  the  ground  beneath, 

In  the  dull  eve-like  midnoon  fluttering, 

And  the  swarm  buzz,  and  hum,  and  hiss,  and  flap,  and 
sting. 

XIII. 

There  was  the  tzetse  plague,  inflicting  pain 

And  botches  on  whatever  flesh  they  seize. 
Till  oozed  an  issue  from  each  punctured  blain; 

The  locust  rustling  on  the  furnace  breeze; 

Bugs,  beetles,  scorpions,  centipedes,  and  fleas; 
And  the  musquito,  night's  hobgoblin  pest, 

The  vampire  that  forbids  or  sleep  or  ease, 
Bred  in  the  open  cesspools  that  infest 
The  streets  of  tropic  towns,  miasma's  putrid  nest. 

XIV. 

The  last  cicada's  song  had  long  expired, 

Yet  Gog  moved  not;  but  just  before  the  rains 


70  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

Of  autumn  fall,  while  panting  nature  tired 

Lay  sick  of  dog-star  fevers,  through  the  plains 
Down  to  the  rivage,  tussock-tanned,  his  trains 
Of  heavy  ordnance  drags,  and  distant  range, 

And  opens  fire  with  shot  and  linked  chains, 
And  bombs,  and  shells,  and  darts  from  engines  strange, 
That,  with  explosive  flame,  burn  cot,  and  barn,  and 
grange. 

xv. 

The  brass  and  iron  ^Etnas  spouting  blaze 
Cyclopean  death,  and  the  swift  ruin  falls 

On  bastioned  towers  and  battlements,  and  raze 
The  ravelines,  curtains,  and  casemated  walls, 
Till  the  dire  wreck  the  stoutest  heart  appals; 

Behind  fascines  and  dykes  the  Christians  keep 
For  shelter  from  the  storm  of  red-hot  balls; 

And  in  return  with  their  artillery  sweep 

Long  swathes  of  dead  and  wounded,  and  the  chan- 
nels heap 

XVI. 

With  stacks  of  slain;  but  the  dry  shallows  ford 
Battalions  fresh,  and  reach  its  southern  shore, 

Swarm  hurtling  swarm,  and  horde  encumbering  horde, 
And  on  the  plain  of  Armageddon  pour, 
As  the  black  deluge  of  a  tropic  shower; 

While  grape  and  canister  gash  down  their  ranks, 
Midst  shouts  and  curses  and  the  cannon's  roar, 

And  hurl  them  backwards  to  the  sedgy  banks, 

And  with  the  hail  of  fear  disperse  their  broken  flanks. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON,  71 

XVII. 

But  Ryno  rallies  them  repulsed,  and  they, 

Cheered  by  his  voice,  back  to  the  mounds  attain, 
O'er  fallen  comrades  jostling  on  their  way, 

And  on  the  parapet  a  footing  gain; 

But  there  the  Huns  resistance  firm  maintain, 
And  Goths  and  Teutons  form  their  phalanxes, 

The  hardy  Norse,  stout  Beige,  and  lusty  Dane, 
A  bulwark  of  their  bodies  to  redress 
The  cause  of  Christendom,  menaced  with  sore  dis- 
tress. 

XVIII. 

Now  pipes  are  yelling,  and  the  clarions  bloring, 

Horses  snorting,  sabres  and  kriesses  clashing, 
As  ranks  impetuous  in  the  onset  pouring, 

With  claymores  gleaming,  and  with  falchions  flash- 
ing, 

In  the  main  shock  of  battle  fierce  are  dashing; 
With  rigid  sinews  stretched  upon  the  strain, 

And  vice-held  grip  of  bayonet  squares  are  crashing 
The  Cossack  cavalry,  that  form  again, 
And  rush  as  runs  a  fire  through  autumn's  stubble  plain. 

XIX. 

Now  spears  with  hostile  lances  interweave, 
And  yataghans  with  scimeters  contend; 

Halberds  and  battle-axes  helmets  cleave, 

And  the  chained  hauberk  pikes  and  arrows  rend, 
And  flocks  of  souls  to  hell  or  heaven  send; 

Nearer  in  tug  of  war  conflicting  meet, 

And  in  each  blow  the  rage  of  fiends  spend, 


72  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 


With  tightened  arm,  teeth  set,  and  stiffened  feet, 
And  with  their  weapons'  clatter  death  or  victory  greet. 


But  louder  than  the  tumult,  Honor's  voice 

Bids  the  hereditary  valor  rise 
Of  Israel,  and  their  just  revenge  rejoice, 

In  yells  reverberating  to  the  skies 

Their  anathema  maranatha  cries; 
Upon  the  pressing  enemy  they  dart, 

Till  rage  incarnadines  their  blood-shot  eyes, 
Like  hydrophobic  hounds,  and  where  dispart 
The  hostile  ranks  stab  every  foeman  to  the  heart. 


Just  then  a  corps  of  Tchakar  horsemen  rushed, 
With  scrannel  furies  leading  their  advance, 

And  closing  on  the  lines  of  Judah,  crushed 
The  gallant  warriors  with  the  spear  and  lance, 
Draggled  to  dust  but  for  the  troops  of  France : 

Then  fell  their  brave  commander  by  the  side 
Of  his  own  ensign's  tattered  cognizance, 

A  lion  gules,  rampant  in  shaggy  pride 

Of  forest  freedom,  and  a  vine  with  clusters  dyed. 


Adoram,  too,  was  wounded  as  he  fought 
His  captain  to  revenge,  his  friend  and  kin; 

But  dearly  this  success  the  Tchakars  bought, 
For  now  the  flower  of  chivalry  pour  in 
With  bugle's  bray  and  pibroch's  screeching  din; 

And  charge  the  brigade  that  in  panic  flies, 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON.  73 

And  from  them  the  imperial  standard  win; 
Then  oped  the  embrasures  of  the  batteries 
Their  mouths  of  rattlesnakes  and  hydra-headed  eyes. 

XXIII. 

Sad  implement  of  infinitude  of  woe, 

Infernal  engine:  yet  intelligent 
As  is  the  soldier  laid  by  thy  fire  low; 

Sometimes  as  gay  as  now  belligerent, 

When  to  announce  some  festival  thou'rt  sent, 
Then  children  clap  their  hands  with  thoughtless  glee: 

But  when  thy  thunder  shakes  the  battlement, 
Nations  bewail  thy  mock  of  misery; 
Thy  voice  the  roar  of  mirth  or  howl  of  agony! 

XXIV. 

Pleased  was  the  gray-haired  chieftain,  and  thus  spoke : 
"  That  mounted  phalanx,  in  its  foremost  lines, 

Is  by  the  encounter  of  our  forces  broke, 

And  back  recoils  from  where  the  battle  joins, 
And  fate  auspicious  to  our  arms  inclines. 

Their  ranks  disordered  utterly  I  see; 

Now  fire  the  mortars,  and  now  spring  the  mines; 

One  struggle  more,  and  Jewry  shall  be  free, 

We  fight  for  God  and  Christ,  our  faith  and  liberty! " 

XXV. 

"  Breathe  martial  spirit  in  the  valorous  fife, 
And  bid  the  rattling  drum  hot  ardor  sound, 

And,  rushing  fearless  to  the  field  of  strife, 

Let  us  the  pride  and  power  of  Gog  confound, 
And  dash  his  pomp  vain  glorious  to  the  ground! " 


74  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

From  flutes  and  pipes  the  screaming  challenge  floats, 

With  throbbing  resolution  hearts  rebound, 
And  answer  back  defiance  from  their  throats, 
While  vengeance  wild   exults  from   cornet's  blatant 
notes. 

XXVI. 

Instant  there  flew  the  fury  of  dragoons, 
And  curassiers,  and  lancers,  and  huzzars, 

Through  dusty  knolls  of  bent  and  dried  lagoons. 
And  over  carcasses  with  ancient  scars 
And  recent  wounds  deformed,  victims  of  war's 

Barbaric  monster,  and  the  straggling  rear 

Retreating  close  pursued.     But  now  the  stars, 

Glimmering  through  smoke,  as  fluttering  ghosts  appear 

Of  heroes  slain,  but  where  unmuffled  twinkle   clear, 


And  o'er  the  field  a  dome  of  glory  spread, 
A  Heaven  over  Hell.     In  peace  arise 

The  constellations  over  Gilboa's  head, 
The  influence  of  the  Pleiad's  mysteries, 
The  key-stone  of  the  arch  of  stellar  skies, 

Orion's  swathing  bands,  and  sword,  and  belt, 
Aldebaran  flaming  in  the  Bull's  red  eyes: 

O  who  hath  not  the  solemn  grandeur  felt, 

When  peep  their  orbs  through  dusk,  and  when  in 
dawn  they  melt, 

XXVIII. 

And  their  dumb  tongues  speak  to  the  awe-struck  soul ! 

O  what  is  mundane  power  but  vanity, 
A  gilded  bauble  for  the  empty  fool, 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON.  75 

In  presence  of  those  altar-fires  on  high, 
That  light  the  shrines  of  dread  infinity? 
There  worlds  inhabit  space  as  men  this  earth, 

Yet  cannot  plenish  the  immensity, 
Where  systems  upon  systems  fail  to  girth 
The  universe  of  God,  who  still  gives  being  birth ! 

XXIX. 

On  Heaven's  watch-tower  hill  his  station  takes 

The  Sentinel  of  Morn  in  mantle  gray; 
And  as  the  earth  to  consciousness  awakes, 

The  winking  stars  grow  drowsy  in  the  day; 

When  suddenly  the  feathered  clouds  display 
In  climes  cerulean  flecks  of  rosy  down, 

The  wings  of  angel  hosts,  bent  on  their  way 
To  Paradise,  their  nightly  mission  done 
To  watch  this  world,  now  called  before  Jehovahs7 
Throne. 

XXX. 

The  glory  of  his  beauty  is  attained, 
Yet  the  diurnal  luminary  is  concealed 

Behind  cleft  Pisgah's  peak,  when  softly  waned 
The  rich  phantasmagoria  unannealed, 
And  from  the  encroaching  golden  splendor  reeled : 

Some  fitful  rays  burst  from  the  craggy  ledge, 
And  the  prismatic  tints  in  silver  sealed, 

When  lo !  the  sun's  disk  from  the  mountain's  edge 

Lifted  its  flood  Promethean,  still  of  life  the  pledge; 

XXXI. 

But  pledge  of  ruin  too,  and  doom,  and  death  ! 

O  who  can  see  at  morn  the  set  of  day ! 
This  moment  is  our  own  while  we  still  breathe, 


76  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

The  next  is  God's  when  he  calls  us  away; 

Life's  birth  is  the  beginning  of  decay; 
The  cradle  rocking  moves  toward  the  tomb, 

But  love  and  truth  to  Heaven  will  find  their  way; 
Though  'tis  to  wither  that  the  roses  bloom, 
Yet  their  dried   leaves,  when  dead,  retain  their  first 
perfume. 

XXXII. 

Then  from  his  couch  of  ebony,  inlaid 

With  tortoise-shell  and  nacrine,  Gog  arose, 

And  with  brocaded  gaudery  arrayed 

His  person,  sparkling  cap-a-pie  with  rows 
Of  gems  profuse,  with  aiguilettes  and  bows 

Festooned,  and  freaked  with  medals:  proud  he  wore 
A  Phoenix-plumed  tiara,  on  his  brows 

Pressing  with  weight,  but  care  then  pressed  them  more. 

And  powdered  were  his  beard's  elf-knots  with  a  gold 
shower. 


Sun-dewed  with  musk  and  amber,  forth  he  went 

Out  of  his  chamber  like  a  young  bridegroom, 
And  o'er  the  assembled  troops  sardonic  bent 

A  look  of  scrutiny  and  gorgon  gloom; 

When  Ryno  interposed,  humbly  to  assume 
The  monitor: — "O  let  me  thee  beseech 

To  doff  this  gaudy  dress  and  aigrette  plume, 
My  lord  and  master,  or  thy  foes  thou'lt  teach 
How  they  with  deadly  missiles  may  thy  person  reach." 

XXXIV. 

"  My  life's  the  Sphinx  of  Fate.     No  weapon  can 
Pierce  my  flesh  steeled  in  tempered  fires  of  Hell; 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON.  77 

I  fear  the  prowess  of  no  mortal  man, 
As  my  deeds  terrible  this  day  shall  tell, 
For  I  the  rage  of  mighty  imps  can  quell: 

I'll  pass  through  flame,  it  will  not  hurt  a  hair, 
And  waters  round  to  buoy  me  up  will  swell, 

A  talisman  oraculous  I  wear, 

An  amulet  to  sheath  me  in  the  viewless  air." 

XXXV. 

"  My  mother  bore  me,  virgin  pure  and  fair, 
By  Budah's  fecundating  breath  impregned, 

And  left  me  to  an  Afrit's  fostering  care, 

And  a  Deeve  was  my  brother,  and  r*y  friend." 
So  spake  the  pride  presumptuous  of  the  fiend, 

And  on  a  black  war-steed,  with  housings  bright 
With  jewelled  ouches,  mounted  while  cheers  rend 

The  sky  vociferous,  such  the  delight 

To  see  their  hero-god  in  doughty  armour  dight. 

XXXVI. 

He  rode  along  the  lines,  and  thus  addressed 

The  drawn-up  ranks  procinct: — "My  banner's  lost, 

And  must  recovered  be,  however  pressed. 
If  this  day  ye  should  flinch  or  yield  a  post, 
I'll  without  mercy  decimate  your  host: 

Repair  my  honor,  and  my  flag  retake, 
Or  ye  shall  find  I've  made  no  idle  boast! 

Now  with  the  spark  of  Lucifer  awake 

These  roaring  Titans  and  those  dogs  to  Orcus  rake;" 

XXXVII. 

"  And  under  cover  of  the  flame  I'll  lead 

The    vanguard    on."     Like   rolling    clouds    that 
move 


78  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

With  floods  aedematous,  marshalled  overhead 
In  cataracts  and  waterspouts  by  Jove, 
Who  scatters  round  the  branches  of  the  grove, 

The  infuriate  columns  to  the  trenches  rushed, 
And  zouaves,  grenadiers,  and  chasseurs  drove 

Before  their  catapultic  charge,  and  crushed 

Quadrates  in  trodden  mass,  behind  the  barriers  pushed. 

XXXVIII. 

A  million  Mongols  entered  in  the  walls, 

As  shells  in  fire-tornadoes  screaming  flew; 
And  garbed  in  garniture  of  carnivals, 

The  Malays  followed,  a  fantastic  crew ; 

And  soon  the  million  duplicated  grew: 
A  wholesale  butchery  of  life  ensued  ; 

For  when  their  captured  flag  the  pagans  view, 
Through  lanes  of  bristling  bayonets  spring  the  brood 
Outrageous,  "and  the  banner  snatch  besmirched  with 
blood. 

xxxix. 

The  clouds  are  bronzed  with  thunder;  shapes  appear 
Without  a  form,  and  move  without  a  sound, 

And  in  the  dark  smoke  voluble  ensphere 
Their  terrors,  till  the  culverins  rebound, 
.When  in  the  flash  they  dart  along  the  ground, 

As  fiery  snakes.     The  devils  are  let  loose. 

For  'tis  Hell's  sabbat:  to  kill,  maim,  and  wound 

Is  pastime  pleasant  for  the  Lilith  crews, 

And  shrieks,   and   groans,  and  death  their   spiteful 
rage  amuse. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON.  79 

XL. 

Still  on  the  glacis  and  the  ramparts  raged 
The  stubborn  conflict;  fierce  the  cannonade 

On  both  sides,  where  the  hustling  hosts  engaged; 
The  Mantchous  trample  down  the  palisade, 
The  leaguered  wall  the  Calmucks  escalade; 

Confronted  squadrons  yield  not  nor  retreat; 
No  thought  of  fear  or  death,  but,  undismayed. 

They  fight,  wherever  Christians  Budhists  meet, 

Hand  against  hand  uplifted,  feet  to  hostile  feet. 

XLI. 

No  quarter  then  was  given  on  either  side ; 

Men  died,  and  sought  not  honor  to  survive; 
Nor  hung  in  long  suspense  the  battle's  tide, 

For  still  an  indefatigable  hive 

Of  clans  came  on,  who  every  sinew  strive 
To  catch  their  leader's  eye,  and  earn  his  praise ; 

For  there  the  king  was;  and  around  him  live 
Few  that  oppose  him:  he  a  legion  slays 
With  his  sole  arm,  to  his  foes' and  his  friends'  amaze. 

XLII. 
Nor  can  a  weapon  touch  him,  nor  a  ball; 

A  thousand  rifles  at  his  crest  are  aimed 
In  vain;  from  off  his  dress  impenetrable  fall 

The  rattling  bullets;  and  unscathed,  unmaimed, 

He  runs  a  muck,  blood-maddened  and  inflamed 
To  rancor  pitiless;  and  a  massacre 

Orders,  that  wars -of  cannibals  outshamed; 

6 


So  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

Nothing  is  spared — slaughtered  without  demur 
Were  combatants;  and  scalped  and  flayed  the  wounded 
were. 

XLIII. 

Alpin  was  killed;  and  as  the  brave  man  died, 
He  thanked  his  God  he  would  not  live  to  see 

The  hypertrophy  of  the  heathen's  vaunting  pride, 
Nor  Christians'  undeserved  catastrophe, 
But  joined  the  patriots  of  Thermopylae. 

Next  day,  a  party  sent  the  spoils  to  rake 
On  the  Aceldama,  under  a  tree 

Adoram  found  still  living,  and  him  take 

Captive,  the  only  prisoner  spared  for  mercy's  sake. 

XLIV. 

The  rest  to  cannons'  mouths  were  lashed,  and  blown 

To  scraps  and  atoms,  till  the  fields  were  black 
With  spattered  flesh,  brains,   bowels,  and   shattered 

bone — 

The  Hindoo's  grave!     Along  the  sulphurous  rack 
.     Of  minute  guns  the  screaming  vultures  track 
The  smell  of  booty,  snatching  in  their  chase 

At  flying  collops  ;  nor  fat  offal  lack 
The  glutton  boars  that  down  from  Carmel  race, 
To  strip  with  flaying 'tusk  in  shreds  the  human  face. 

XLV. 

"  Now  build  a  trophy  of  this  victory 

To  everlasting  time.     Great  Belus  raised 

A  storied  tower,  aspiring  to  the  sky, 

That,  looking  on  the  pile,  with  envy  amazed, 
The  speech  confounded  of  its  masons,  dazed 


THE  BA  TTLE  OF  ARM  A  GEDD  ON.  8 1 

With  babbling  tumult.     Such  a  lofty  mound 

I  will  construct,  but  not  with  gold  emblazed, 
With  brick  cemented,  or  with  marble  bound. 
But  with  blood-plastered  skulls  in   layers  from  the 
ground." 

XL  VI. 

"  Such  in  his  noble  fury  Timour  made, 
A  monument  of  wrath  and  kingly  pride, 

The  grandest  mausoleum  for  the  dead, 
Sublimer  far  than  Cheop's  pyramid." 
So  ordered  the  grim  despot.  Terrified, 

The  troops  obeyed,  and  with  assiduous  zeal, 
Uninterrupted,  to  the  labor  plied, 

Submiss.     In  basket  or  in  creel, 

In  barrows  and  in  carts  the  horrid  loads  they  wheel ; 

XL  VI  I. 

And  lay  the  rows  in  lengthened  lines  aplumb, 
In  slanting  stairs  heaped  up,  and  outward  turn, 

In  cynic  mockery  of  their  awful  doom, 
The  mangled  visages,  haggard  and  dern, 
Stolid  or  placid,  grave  or  frowning  stern; 

Their  eyeballs  glisten,  although  fixed  in  death, 
And  seem  with  rage  perdurable  to  burn; 

Their  clotted  locks  the  tomb  of  reason  wreath, 

The  lips  still  smile  or  scowl,  and  want  but  only  breath. 

XLVIII. 
And  there  it  stood,  ascending  to  the  clouds, 

The  apotheosis  man  most  reveres ! 
War's  hatchment  and  escutcheon,  gaped  by  crowds ! 

And  vultures  perch  upon  the  deathful  tiers, 


82  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

And  haul  the  heads  from  out  their  ghastly  biers; 
There  wend  the  matin  crow,  and  famished  kite, 

And  there  the  eagle  from  Mount  Horeb  steers; 
Thither  the  tempests  in  their  anger  light, 
And  demons  sport  and  howl  in  the  unhallowed  night. 

XLIX, 
A  meteor  rising  out  of  blood  is  war, 

Alluring  phantoms  round  that  shriek  and  rave, 
And  curse  the  light  of  its  delusive  star! 

Murder  one  man — thou  art  a  felon  knave ! 

A  thousand  kill — thou  art  a  warrior  brave ! 
Yet  photograph  the  feathered  hero,  thou 

Wilt  draw  the  hired  assassin  or  the  slave, 
With  the  red  spot  of  Cain  upon  his  brow, 
To  hell  congenial  friend,  to  earth  her  deadliest  foe. 

L. 
But  they  who  for  their  freedom  bravely  fight, 

Their  hearths  and  altars,  are  by  Heaven  beloved, 
Although  they  may  be  traitors  in  the  sight 

Of  heir-loom  kings:  elected  saints  approved, 

Them  death  exalts  to  glory  who  are  moved 
By  noble  manhood,  and  dishonored  feel 

To  live  despised,  who  sternly  are  reproved 
By  conscience,  if  they  shirk  the  public  weal, 
And  fear  their  country's  cause  with  their  own  blood  to 
seal. 

LI. 
Is  life  but  pain,  and  man  a  living  curse, 

Since  he  plucked  knowledge  from  the  fatal  grove? 
Shall  arrogance  and  wrong  be  honor's  nurse  ? 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON.  83 

The  laws  of  Nature  are  the  arms  of  Love ! 

Behind  the  March-rack  shines  the  sun  above, 
Through  April  showers  peep  the  Twins  of  May; 

To  Noah's  ark  through  briny  waste  the  dove 
Brought  from  the  budding  glebe  the  olive  spray; 
So  shall  the  chrism  of  sorrow  shrive  all  sin  away. 


RESURRECTION  OF  THE   SAINTS. 


\TO  V. 


the  abyss  ot  midnight  sudden  glows 

A  full  blown  burst  of  radiance,  as  if  there 

orient  day-spring  premature  had  rose 
From  out  his  curtained  couch  of  damask  air, 
So  vivid  was  the  instantaneous  glare: 
The  bards  forsook  their  nests  and  warbled  forth 

Their  matin  onsons,  while  to  his  lair 
The  panther  skulked,  and  in  the  caverned  earth 
The  shaphans  burrowed,  thinking  it  a  new  day's  birth. 

IL 

Past  wnere  the  douds  rifts  burn  with  scarlet  flecks. 

Their  lighted  watch-towers,  in  the  horizon  lost 
Through  palpitating  haze,  as  golden  s; 

Flicker  in  silver-gray  the  angel  host 

V        >  a  rain  of  gems  or  flowers  i, 
Then  nearer,  \vith  a  whirlwind's  rush  of  plumes. 

They  flood  with  rainbow  waves  the  azure  coast; 
The  iridiscent  sky  with  beauty  fumes, 
And  with  the  innumerable  flap  of  pennons  hi:    i 


y  OF  THE  SAIXTS. 


III. 

Then  opened  wide  the  Heavens,  and,  on  a  throne 

bickering  flame  within  a  sea  of  tire 
Sat  the  Omnipotent,  and  round  Him  shone 

hi  as  His  garni. 

Hi-  with  infolding  wreath  and  spire 

Of  luminous  clouds  that  blaze  along  the  sk 

..earn  from  Him,  and  a  watchful  choir 
.  ".-.eriibim  before  Him  >tanJ,  and  en-, 
"  Holv,  lioh.  holy  is  the  Lord  our  God  on  high!  ?? 

IV. 

"Tvvas  He  who  through  eternity  is  called 

eiem  of  Days,"  who  lived  before  was  time, 
Whose  brL  nee  cannot  unappalled 

Spirits  behold,  but  from  the  sight  sublime 
Look  down  B  is  shrinks  from  virtue  crime: 

Ten  thousand  thrones  are  placed,  and  on  his  throne. 

.  hierarch    5S          .  mid  a  chime 
Of  halleluialis  in  mellifluous  : 
And  at  their  head  is  seen  the  Virgin  Mother's  Son. 

v. 

Then  spake  the  omnific  Father.  "Son  of  Mine 

Own  bosom,  rule  thou,  and  thine  enemies 
1'il  make  thy  footstool,  for  My  power  is  thine! 

Grace  i>  on  thv  lips,  and  love  in  thine  e;. 

And  in  thy  heart  compassion's  sympathies; 
Truth,  Ju>  ad  Mercy  have 

Kach  other  at  tiiy  shrine  of  s 

an  men,  purer  than  angels  b. 

The  honor  of  the  (  con- 

xd\" 


86  7 1  ME  AND  ETERNITY. 

VI. 

"  Thou  lovest  righteousness,  and  hatest  sin, 
Therefore  I  have  anointed  thee  with  oil, 

And  crowned  thee  Prince  Vice-gerent;  thou  hast  been 
Faithful,  and  charitable,  and  free  from  guile, 
Hence  shalt  thou  of  his  trophies  Hell  despoil; 

But  thy  throne  be  indissolubly  firm, 

Established  on  eterne  foundations,  while 

The  earth  shall  melt  in  elemental  storm 

To  nothingness,  and  chaos  suns  and  moons  deform.'7 

VII. 

"  Why  do  the  heathen  rage?  why  do  they  scoff 

With  taunting  insults,  and  audacious  ask 
Dominion  absolute  ?     But  thou  shalt  laugh 

At  their  foul  gibes,  and  their  dark  plots  unmask; 

To  bind  and  vex  them  sore  shall  be  thy, task. 
I  here  declare  again  my  old  decree, 

That  in  My  glory  exalted  thou  shalt  bask, 
Hope  of  the  human  race,  and  reign  for  me 
In  Zion,  and  my  promised  King  Messiah  be." 

VIII. 

"  My  regal  chariot  take,  within  thy  hand 

Grasp  my  linked  bolts  of  thunder,  on  thy  thigh 
Gird  my  sword  terrible;  and  with  a  band 

Of  seraphim  embattled,  fire  the  sky 

With  the  full  blazon  of  thy  majesty; 
From  their  oppressors  first  my  saints  lead  out, 

Then  Gog's  vile  myrmidons,  who  proud  defy 
Our  arms  rebellious,  thou  shalt  utter  rout. 
And  Sin  and  Death  shalt  bind  with  a  triumphant  shout." 


RESURRECTION  OF  THE  SAIN7 S.  87 

IX. 

Low-bowing  meek  and  reverent  before 

The  seat  supreme,  "O,  Holiest  *and  Best!  " 

Answered  the  Substitute  of  Heavenly  Power, 
"  Thy  mission  I  accept,  to  guard  the  blest, 
And  them  chastise  who  have  Thy  saints  oppressed, 

For  justice  caveats  grace  ;  and  for  this  favor, 
That  thou  hast  me  Thy  deputy  confessed 

On  earth,  to  serve  Thee  shall  be  my  endeavor, 

And  Thy  regard  to  merit,  and  Thy  trust  forever; " 

x. 
"And  serving  Thee,  Thy  glory  I  partake, 

Whom  still  to  serve  will  be  my  dearest  joy. 
Clad  in  Thy  matchless  armor,  I  shall  make 

A  facile  conquest,  and  thy  foes  destroy; 

And  the  obstreperous  fiend  back  shall  fly 
With  Hideous  overthrow.     Then  shall  I  reign 

The  administrator  of  thy  sovereignty; 
And  on  the  earth,  henceforward  free  from  pain, 
From   mulct   of  death   exempt,    shall   I    Thy    laws, 
maintain." 

XI. 

As  thus  they  colloquied,  the  air  was  stirred 

With  the  aroma  of  elysian  balms, 
While  solemn  peace  and  awe  inspired  each  word, 

And  sacred  love.    The  angels  wave  their  palms, 

Applauding,  and  intone  melodious  psalms, 
Answered  by  angel  wings  from  farthest  star: 

"  O  Lord  Emanuel !  who  can  stand  in  arms 
Against  Thee,  in  the  harnessed  ranks  of  war, 
Above  all  dominations,  princedoms,  sceptres  far  ?  " 


;  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

XII. 

Then  Jesus  leaves  his  throne  involved  in  clouds, 
And  homage  fresh  pays  to  his  Father  God, 

Conducted  to  the  Presence  by  thronged  crowds 
Of  Heaven's  peerage,  who  obeisance  nod 
To  him  assuming  the  vice-regent's  rod, 

And  sceptre  of  the  universal  Lord; 
And  as  the  multitudinous  myriads  trod 

The  gem-mosaic  pavement,  loud  was  heard 

This  anthem  jubilant  to  the  imbodied  Word : 


"  Worthy's  the  Lamb  that  was  slain  to  receive 
Honor,  and  glory,  and  dominion,  and  power ! 

And  blessings  and  laudations  let  us  give 
To  the  Almighty  Father  evermore, 
Who  on  His  loved  inheritor  doth  pour 

The  oil  of  joy,  and  consecrate  him  blest 

Above  his  fellows!  "     And  the  spirits  shower 

Along  the  sapphire  floor  his  footsteps  pressed 

The  diadems,  and  crowns,  and  wreaths  of  light  that 
crest 

XIV. 

Their  hyacinthine  curls,  cast  down  before  him. 

Invested  with  the  prowess  of  his  Sire, 
He  looks  upon  the  earth,  where  loud  implore  him 

His  persecuted  church  to  come  with  fire, 

And  their  oppressors  punish  in  his  ire; 
And  now,  accompanied  by  a  princely  host, 

Who  to  escort  him  emulous  aspire, 
He  reaches,  in  his  chariot,  to  the  coast 
Of  Heaven,  washed  by  seas  of  worlds  in  distance  lost. 


RESURRECTION  OF  THE  SAINTS,  89 


Aloft  on  wings  of  cherubim  he  rides 

Over  the  kindling  clouds  of  amber  skies, 

And  through  the  hyaline  his  convoy  guides, 
Ablaze  with  pomp  of  myriad  starry  eyes, 
That  tint  the  concave  round  with  meteor  dyes; 

And  crowds  affrighted,  looking  from  the  earth, 
Behold  the  omens  amid  stifled  cries, 

But  with  no  merriment  or  riot  mirth, 

As  on  the  pyrrhic  road  careers  the  splendor  forth. 

XVI. 

The  path  is  paved  with  lightnings  where  the  wheels, 
Rattling  through  flame  and  smoking  thunders,  roll; 

The  welkin,  weighted  with  the  glory,  reels, 
And,  lined  with  beryl  fires  from  pole  to  pole, 
Glows  like  a  furnace  to  their  orbit's  goal; 

And  freedom  to  the  captive  is  the  sight, 
Bearing  his  ransomed  manumission  scroll; 

Heaven  to  the  transcendental  anchorite, 

Peopling  the  abyss  of  dreams  with  real  shapes  of  light: 

XVII. 

And  while  the  ardent  tempest  runs  about 
Before  his  way  through  ether  fields  above, 

He  calls  to  his  archangels  with  a  shout: 
"  To  those  who  are  the  objects  of  my  love 
Proceed,  and  on  your  sunbeam  pinions  move, 

My  faithful  servants,  and  alarums  sound, 
And  gather  my  elect  where'er  they  rove, 

The  dead  and  living,  whether  under  ground, 

On  land,  in  sea,  or  air,  wherever  they  are  found." 


90  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

XVIII. 

"  Earth  shall  disclose  their  buried  blood,  the  main 
Cast  up  their  frames;  palm  hill  and  cactus  heath 

Teem  with  a  second  birth;  the  millet  plain 
Struggle  with  pangs  of  travail;  living  breath 
Shall  clods  respire,  and  rise  the  turf  beneath; 

The  wind  conceive,  and  ope  her  laboring  womb: 
For  I  have  made  a  covenant  with  death, 

His  bond  to  cancel  and  forego  the  tomb, 

That  pulseless  dust  with  life  original  may  bloom/' 

XIX. 

Immediately  depart,  on  gold-down  plumes, 

Four  couriers,  where  terraqueous  mists  disperse; 

The  hoar  frost  fanned  to  dewy  fragrance  fumes, 
The  snow  flakes  melt  to  flowers,  as  they  immerse' 
In  waves  of  air,  or  flanks  of  mountains  pierce, 

Touting  their  summons  with  a  welcome  call, 
That  tells  of  benizons,  and  not  a  curse: 

The  dead  awake,  cast  off  their  funeral  pall, 

And  rise  from  caves  of  earth,  and  from  the  ocean's 
hall. 


In  the  rock  iron-ribbed  and  quarry's  bed 

The  strata  split,  and,  opening  seams  and  rents, 
Exhume  the  hostelry  where  bones  had  laid, 

Impetrified  to  fossil  monuments; 

But  flesh  and  sinews,  nerves  and  filaments 
Had  volatilized  in  their  oblivious  sleep; 

The  flinty  skulls  and  slaty  ossements 


RESURRECTION  OF  THE   SAINTS.  91 

Begin  to  trepidate,  the  stones  to  creep, 
And  breaths  to  eddy  round,  as  to  the  mounds  they 
sweep, 

XXI. 

And  lo !  the  relics  shape,  and  stand,  and  live ! 

And  in  the  floods  of  brine  appears  a  storm ; 
Shoals  of  dead  bodies,  swarming  like  a  hive, 

Push  through  the  glaucous  surface  of  the  calm : 

And,  as  emerges  each  resussate  form, 
It  lifts  the  water  to  a  plashing  wave, 

Till  poppling  billows  the  smooth  seas  deform, 
Each  surge  a  womb  become  that  was  a  grave, 
And  mews  and  petrels  flying  past  them  shriek  and  rave. 

XXII. 

And  in  the  blue  void,  where,  for  ages  past, 
As  breezy  wind,  had  flitted  ghosts,  a  throng 

Impalpable  as  thoughts,  round  them  they  cast 
The  lineaments  that  did  to  them  belong, 
As  swiftly  as  shadows  glide  the  clouds  among; 

And  as  the  Fata  Morgana  over  sand 

Quiver,  daguerrotyped  in  columns  long; 

So  in  the  sunshine  their  translucent  band, 

With  star-drop  flicker  fire  the  matitutinal  land. 

XXIII. 

And  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  are  changed 
The  living  saints:  a  moment  they  had  been 

Men,  and  a  moment  more  are  gods,  and  ranged 
Higher  than  angels,  with  a  human  mien, 
But  fulgent  with  supernal  beauty's  sheen! 


92  TIME  AND  ETERNITY, 

So  in  a  trance  of  thought  the  poet  steals 

From  out  the  earth  to  where  the  Heavens  are  seen. 
Forgets  that  he  is  flesh,  and  only  feels 
The  spirit  of  the  muse  who  wonders  strange  reveals. 

XXIV. 

Surpassing  dreams  of  hope,  they  taste  a  peace 

Beyond  beatitude;  and  they  repair 
From  sacred  Palestine,  and  classic  Greece, 

From  the  Atlantis  of  the  Western  Star, 

From  Cashmere's  gardens  of  white  hersinghar, 
From  Erin's  primrose,  and  May-kirtled  croft, 

From  the  Australian  Cross  to  arctic  Bear; 
All  startle  up,  and  all  are  caught  aloft, 
Drawn  in  circumfluous  clouds  that  bear  them  as  a  raft. 

XXV. 

As  they  ascend,  mounted  in  fiery  cars, 

They  hear  assemblies  of  bright  angels  sing 

Their  Christmas  welcome  to  the  eternal  stars, 
And  answer  back  until  with  echoes  ring 
The  vaults  celestial  murmuring,  murmuring: 

"  O  dreadful  Grave !  where  is  thy  victory  ? 
O  Death !  where  is  thy  formidable  sting  ? 

Sin  is  the  sting  of  Death,  but  thanks  to  thee, 

That  over  Hell  and  Death  we  conquerors  shall  be! " 

XXVI. 

Their  Savior  and  Redeemer  they  behold, 
Beautiful  as  Love,  gentle  as  Pity,  bright 

Amid  the  splendent  beams  of  purple  and  gold, 
Lustrous  as  is  the  sun's  meridian  light, 


RESURRECTION  OF  THE   SAINTS.  93 

And  glorious  as -the  hemisphere  at  night; 
Fair  as  the  flowers  on  the  breast  of  earth, 

Sublimely  terrible  in  Heaven's  might; 
With  cries  exultant  and  with  pious  mirth 
They  see  his  friendly  arms  to  them  extended  forth. 

XXVII. 

They  view  his  face  divine,  that  had  shed  tears, 

The  hands  that  to  the  cross  had  once  been  nailed; 

That  face  irradiate  with  smiles  appears 
Of  love  propitious,  not  in  sorrow  veiled, 
Nor  with  remembrance  of  his  passion  paled; 

Those  hands,  in  hovering  dove-like  spirit  spread, 
With  salutations  them  prevenient  hailed, 

And  charged  with  gifts  and  honors  on  each  head 

Of  martyred  saints  were  laid,  who  had  for  conscience 
bled. 

XXVIII. 

The  palms  of  victory  are  given  these, 

And  golden  crowns  of  glory,  and  the  wreath 

In  triple  strand  of  faith  and  truth  and  peace, 
Of  amaranthine  bloom  that  knows  no  death, 
Immortal  flowers,  whose  sweet  embalming  breath 

Is  purest  prayer:  and  now  the  cohorts  sound 
Their  silver  bugles,  whose  voice  uttereth 

Music  no  mortal  tongue  hath  ever  found, 

Nor  mortal  ear  hath  heard  in  minster  aisles  rebound : 

XXIX. 

"To  him,  our  friend  who  loved  us,  unto  him 
Who  hath  absolved  us  by  his  precious  blood, 


94  TIME  AND  E  TERNITY. 

Quickener  of  flesh  to  life,  we  raise  this  hymn, 
Who  otherwise  impenitent  had  stood; 
But  he  hath  made  us  wise  and  true  and  good, 

And  Kings,  and  Priests,  to  his  God  and  to  ours, 
To  live  as  brothers  in  beatitude, 

While  ever  dure  unintermittent  hours, 

To  whom  shall  bow  thrones,  virtues,  dignities,  and 
powers." 

XXX. 

Theirs  was  the  glory  of  the  golden  sun, 
Or  the  moon's  meeker  silvery  aureole, 

Or  glitter  of  the  stars ;  and  as  each  one 
Differs  from  neighbor  orb  as  on  they  roll, 
So  shines  a  different  lustre  on  each  soul; 

On  all  love  shines,  who  had  witnessed  to  their  faith 
By  works  devout,  smocked  in  untarnished  stole, 

Anointed  Cherubs,  who  with  lying  breath, 

Idolatrous,  had  not  adored  the  King  of  Death. 

XXXI. 

Lo !  far  above  the  altitude  of  clouds, 

In  a  maleficent  red  comet's  glare, 
The  Powers  of  Darkness,  abominable  broods, 

In  honor  of  their  Lord,  Prince  of  the  Air, 

Hold  revels  rampant,  mid  the  whirling  flare 
Of  cosmic  atoms,  while  he  cursing  smites 

The  earth  with  withering  bane  and  mortal  snare, 
Blasts  with  the  taint  worm,  and  with  murrain  blights, 
And  where  he  blows  his  breath  the  clammy  canker' 
lights. 


RESURRECTION  OF  THE   SAINTS.  95 

xxxn. 
As,  gloating  over  the  havoc  which  he  spreads, 

He  strikes  his  plagues,  the  Son  of  Heaven  he  sees, 
Whom  more  than  Hell's  worst  punishment  he  dreads, 

And  strives  to  fly;  but  stiff  his  sinews  freeze, 

And  him  in  cataleptic  terror  seize 
The  retinue  cherubic,  and  fast  bind 

To  the  bright  chariot's  blazing  orbs,  through  seas 
Of  flooding  ether  wafted,  in  the  wind 
Of  hurricanes  and  rack  and  thunderbolts  combined. 

XXXIII. 

Then  mounts  the  cavalcade  magnificent 

In  splendor  to  the  rain-bow  vaulted  sky, 
Back  to  the  pomp  of  sapphire  glory  bent, 

Back  to  the  star-blaze  of  the  Throne  on  High, 

Leading  Hell  captive  in  captivity, 
Mid  peans  flourished  on  the  trumpet  blast, 

And  golden  harps  that  strike  a  jubilee : — 
"  The  rule  of  Satan  on  the  earth  is  past, 
For  lo!  Messiah  comes,  whose  reign  shall  ever  last." 

xxxiv. 

"  Lift  up  your  heads,  ye  everlasting  doors, 

And  let  the  Prince  of  Heaven  in  to  be 
Throned  in  the  Presence  Chamber,  on  the  floors 

Of  paven  sunshine,  in  a  jasper  sea; 

And  his  saints  enter  in  the  Sanctuary ! 
Lift  up  your  heads,  ye  everlasting  gates !" 

"  Who  is  this  Prince  of  Glory?  "     "It  is  he 
Who  with  his  army  of  the  faithful  waits: 
O  strew  with  palms  the  way  his  car  illuminates." 


96  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

xxxv. 

Then  thus  the  delegated  majesty, 

Plenipotent,  to  the  anarch  of  all  ill: — 

"How  the  blood-stains  of  thine  iniquity 
Profane  and  darken  the  Celestial  Hill, 
Where  sanguine  clouds  the  Tabernacle  fill, 

And  hide  from  Sons  of  Light  the  Seat  of  Bliss  ; 
How  lowering  faces  and  the  eyes  that  kill 

Glow  baleful  on  thee  through  the  fires  that  hiss, 

Where  thronged  with  Cherubim,  the  Seat  of  Mercy 
is." 

XXXVI. 

"  From  favor  interdicted,  and  the  face 
Of  Love  benignant,  unto  thee  austere 

And  terrible,  here  mayst  thou  brief  retrace 
The  pristine  purity,  crystalline  clear, 
Of  thine  estate,  ere  from  thy  native  sphere, 

Forfeit  by  sin,  its  penalty  to  pay, 

Thou  wast  releagued  to  the  asylum  drear 

Of  dismal  woe.     But  here  thou  must  not  stay; 

Look  on  what  thou  hast  lost,  then  back  resume  thy 
way." 

XXXVII. 

"Ah  me!"  returned  the  fiend,  humbled  tame 
By  transitory  stings  of  true  remorse: — 

"Far  otherwise  I've  seen,  then  without  shame, 
His  countenance,  who  is  the  primal  source 
Of  every  good,  when  His  eyes  smiled  applause, 

And  His  lips  sounded  praise,  and  His  love  shone 
A  sun  without  a  cloud,  and  without  pause 


RESURRECTION  OF  THE  SAINTS.  97 

Sweet  halleluiahs  to  the  Blessed  Throne 

Were  sung  by  all  the  blest — by  me — alas  undone!" 

XXXVIII. 

He  said  no  more,  reluctant  to  confess 
His  obvious  misery,  for  pride  obdured 

His  soul,  and  envy  of  the  happiness, 

Debarred  to  him,  its  beauteous  bloom  obscured: 
Better  to  be  in  Hell,  its  Lord  immured, 

Than  dwell  in  Paradise,  and  there  the  smart 
Bear  of  submission:  with  that  thought  allured, 

As  lightning  flashing,  with  Hell  in  his  heart, 

He  lied,  and  with  him  night,  and  sin,  and  death  de- 
part. 


The  shadow  vanished,  instantly  the  Fount 

Of  light  its  treasury  of  beams  shot  forth, 
The  storm  dispersing  which  had  cloaked  the  Mount, 

Where  in  the  blaze  exists  supernal  Worth. 

The  sweet  Complacence  of  the  Heavens  and  earth 
Salutes  His  Father,  in  the  inner  shrine 

Conspicuous  seen,  where  flaming  circles  girth 
The  altar,  and  the  golden  candles  shine, 
And  kneels  with  all  his  saints  before  the  seat  divine. 

XL. 

And  these  the  first  fruits  of  his  spiritual  church, 
Virginal  of  a  blemish  or  a  stain, 

Before  that  Love  whose  depth  is  beyond  search 
He  proud  presents;  e'en  as  the  Hebrew  swain 
Culled  the  first  yellow  sheaf  of  the  ripe  grain, 


98  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

And  waved  it  to  the  Lord,  an  act  of  grace ! 

And  He,  whose  presence  fills  the  land  and  main, 
Whose  effluence  is  uncircumscribed  space, 
Receives  them  there  in  state  with  an  approving  face. 

XLI. 
Then  shall  Jehovah  celebrate  the  rites 

Of  mystic  marriage  ties  betwixt  the  Lamb 
And  his  immaculate  Church,  amid  delights 

Unutterable,  too  sweet  to  own  a  name, 

And  clouds  of  flowers,  and  starry  cressets'  flame, 
The  union  of  the  human  and  divine, 

Where  godhead  dwells  incarnate  in  the  frame, 
A  palingenesis,  where  virtues  shine 
Bright  as  the  sacrifice  accepted  on  the  shrine. 

XLII. 

Clothed  with  the  sun,  she  stepped  upon  the  moon, 
A  tire  of  twelve  stars  filletted  her  brow, 

Her  head  a  nimbus  hooded  like  a  noon: 

"  Rise  and  with  light  of  Easter  Morning  glow," 
The  voice  of  Heaven  calls,  that  all  may  bow 

To  spotless  Beauty,  Mother  of  all  joy, 
And  sinless  fealty  and  allegiance  vow  : 

Goddess  of  Grace,  beatified  on  high, 

Of  Truth  the  Spouse  beloved,  Queen  of  the  elysian 
sky." 

XLIII. 

Let  us  be  glad !     O  let  us  all  rejoice ! 

The  bride  is  ready,  in  fine  robes  arrayed, 
Fair  is  her  face,  and  pleasant  is  her  voice; 


RESURRECTION  OF  THE  SAINTS.  99 

And  she  hath  to  her  Lord  due  homage  paid, 
And  gage  of  love  and  pledge  of  faith  has  made: 
Blessed  are  they  who  to  this  festival 

Were  guests  invited !     Blest  the  risen  dead, 
And  saints  translated  without  shroud  or  pall, 
The  poor,  the  meek,  the  sad,  called  to  this  banquet 
hall! 

XLIV. 

Blest  were  the  virgins,  who  with  lamps  went  forth 
To  meet  the  bridegroom,  and  to  light  his  way ! 

They  entered  with  him  in  the  house  of  mirth, 
Where  care  was  happy,  and  where  grief  was  gay, 
For  there  the  bridegroom  solaced  pain  away : 

But  thence  the  foolish  maidens  who  had  slept, 

Whose  lamps  untrimmed  with  oil  could  give  no 
ray, 

Because  their  Lord's  command  they  had  not  kept, 

Were  banished,    and  in  darkness   shadowing   death 
sore  wept. 

XLV. 
O  what  is  life?     A  dream  of  troubled  sleep 

Haunted  by  phantoms,  whence  we  wake  to  find 
'Twas  but  a  dream :  yet  is  the  mystery  deep, 

Insoluble,  till  death  informs  the  mind 

Of  secrets  still  more  subtle  and  refined  : 
Tis  as  a  dew-drop  crisping  in  the  floods, 

That  melt  into  the  sea,  or  gust  of  wind, 
That  strikes  the  twinkling  foliage  of  the  woods. 
Then  vanishes  to  unknown,  far-off  solitudes. 


zoo  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

XLVI. 

But  if  the  life  be  breath,  it  is  the  air 

The  universe  encircling;  if  to  feel,  \ 

To  hate,  and  fear,  be  here  our  only  care, 

Ah,  when  his  presence  blest  shall  death  reveal, 
Then  shall  we  all  things  know  and  love  as  well: 

In  death  than  birth  then  happier  is  our  fate ! 
For  'tis  the  door  man  enters  in  to  dwell, 

And  finds  himself  a  god  inside  the  gate, 

Where  he  may  grow  in  grace,  with  endless  joys  elate. 

XLVII. 

And  what  is  fame?     A  summer's  nettle-rash, 
Touch  of  the  poison  oak,  the  upas  breath, 

Taste  of  the  bitter  fruit  whose  heart  is  ash, 
The  rattle  of  the  snake  whose  bite  is  death, 
The  thunder's  growl  that  lightning  answereth ! 

Yes;  and  the  talk  of  God  in  Eden's  grove, 
That  with  the  work  of  His  hands  communeth, 

The  still  small  voice,  which  ever  whispers  Love ! 

This  is  the  pearl  of  price  all  worldly  wealth  above ! 

XLVIII. 
A  few  short  years  of  morbid  frailties, 

And  then  we  cease  to  be  or  flesh  or  bone; 
We  die  a  moment,  but  eternities 

Of  perfect  blessedness  will  be  our  own, 

Through  ages  and  through  eons  living  on : 
Then  God  will  wipe  all  tears  from  off  our  eyes, 

And  we  shall  be,  as  Jesus  is,  His  Son, 
When  never  heart  hath  felt  the  ecstasies 
He  hath  prepared  for  them,  who  love  Him,  in  the 
skies. 


THE  REIGN  OF  GOG. 


CANTO   VI. 


ERRILY  rose  the  morn.     What  careth  Time 

For  man,  or  for  his  works,  or  good  or  ill  ? 
With  steady  tramp  along  his  course  sublime 
He  treads  the  zodiac,  and  dim  shadows  fill 
The  space  he  leaves  behind ;  the  glowing  hill 
He  touches  with  his  foot,  and  lo!  the  vale 

Leaps  into  life  and  beauty;  and  lake  and  rill 
Dance  to  the  music  of  the  summer  gale, 
Or  mourn  the  oreads  dead  in  winter's  sobbing  wail. 

ii. 
What  if  the  clouds  of  night  enshroud  the  skies, 

The  sun  will  shine  to-morrow;  if  there  seem 
A  shuffling  riddle  of  perplexities, 

Still  this  great  world  organic,  which  we  deem 

A  phantom  in  the  dark,  or  waking  dream, 
Is  a  reality,  and  grows  and  breeds; 

With  hiving  life  earth,  flood,  and  ether  teem, 
Creatures  exist  in  microscopic  seeds, 
And  forests  live  within  the  pollen  spores  of  weeds. 


102  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

III. 
Primeval  Factory,  where  the  skilled  Sun, 

Arch-Chemist,  from  the  rock  and  viewless  air 
And  tasteless  vapor  hath  all  clothing  spun, 

And  doth  all  food  and  nourishment  prepare, 
'  Tissues  of  wool,  fibres  of  fur  and  hair, 
All  flesh  of  brain  and  tendon,  nerve  and  brawn, 

And  perfumes  for  the  toilet  of  the  fair, 
Your  spiral  tubes  and  cells  toil  from  the  dawn, 
Then  shut  up  shop,  and  sleep,  when  your  day's  work 
is  done. 

IV. 

Since  then  this  globe  is  the  Creator's  glory, 

And  its  least  minims  wonders,  O  what  are 
Those  worlds  on  high,  and  what  their  wondrous  story? 

What  can  we  learn  of  orbs  that  are  so  far  ? 

Interrogate  yon  sun,  that  moon,  that  star  ? 
They  give  no  answer !     The  infinitude 

Confounds  us;  Science  breaks  her  calendar, 
The  Muse  her  style,  in  melancholy  mood 
Lost  in  the  maze  of  thought  that  chills  the  very  blood. 


Temple  of  light,  where  Nature  worships  God ! 

His  Palace,  His  Pavilion,  and  His  Throne, 
Built  on  eternity !  along  this  road 

Across  the  intervening  gulf  have  gone 

Myriads  of  saints  and  martyrs  where  have  shone 
Thy  lamps  that  never  darken  in  the  skies; 

O  while  I  gaze  on  thy  fire-studded  zone, 
I  feel  a  kindred  grandeur  in  me  rise, 
And  long  with  daring  thought  to  pierce  thy  mysteries ! 


THE  REIGN  OF  GOG.  103 

VI. 

Then  strange  the  oracle  of  Fancy  speaks 

Its  teachings  sibylline  about  the  soul, 
When,  disembodied,  it  bewildered  seeks 

Its  home,  where  Mazzaroths  in  sapphire  roll, 

Or  wreck  on  reefs  where  seas  of  Chaos  shoal; 
Where  living  forms  Sleep  and  the  Grave  disclose, 

And  figures  on  his  hieroglyphic  scroll 
Death  writes,  of  fears,  and  hopes,  and  joys,  and  woes : 
We  read  in  vain  the  text  of  undeciphered  shows. 

VII. 

The  shapes  existing  now  will  cease  to  be 
A  short  time  hence  for  the  whole  universe; 

Yet  nothing  perishes:  the  dust  will  see 
The  future  as  the  past,  and  nothing  worse, 
No  blessing  more,  nor  less  of  any  curse; 

And  enter  into  other  forms  of  life, 
A  law  not  arbitrary  and  perverse, 

But  providential,  conquering  war  and  strife 

Through  love  and  joy,  with  new  creation  ever  rife. 

VIII. 

But  the  mind  will  to  realms  ethereal  rise, 

High  in  the  air,  and  play  with  beams  of  light, 

Sport  in  the  lunar  ray,  through  cloudy  skies 
Ride  on  the  whirlwind  in  the  stormy  night, 
And  track  the  blazing  trains  of  meteors  bright, 

Dare  the  full  splendor  of  the  midday  sun, 

And  wing  its  flight  untired  to  Heaven's  height, 

Nor  fear  to  soar  where  sits  upon  His  Throne, 

The  Great  I  AM — the  First  and  Last — the  All  in  One. 
7 


104  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

IX. 

Or,  are  the  instincts  with  which  I'm  endowed 
But  mere  delusions  ?     Is  the  voice  I  hear 

Speaking  in  thunder  in  the  tempest  cloud, 
In  the  soft  murmur  of  the  summer  air, 
And  in  the  breathings  of  my  conscience  clear, 

The  mocking  echo  of  a  monstrous  lie  ? 
Is  there  no  loving  Father  anywhere, 

But  a  stern  Force  and  dire  Necessity  ? 

And  is  eternal  Life  but  Sleep  eternally  ? 


Is  the  thought  of  a  Shakspeare  only  dust? 

And  Newton's  reason  but  a  puff  of  wind  ? 
Do  particles  of  lime  and  iron  rust, 

And  grains  of  phosphorus  compose  the  mind  ? 

And  in  truth  shall  we  ashes  only  find  ? 
Ah !  miserable  race,  if  this  were  true. 

Left  in  a  labyrinth  to  grope  purblind ! 
But  Faith  scans  further  than  e'er  Science  knew, 
And  can  in  man  a  soul,  a  God  in  nature  view. 


Faith  is  an  inspiration  of  the  truth; 

It  clears  the  darkness  from  the  night  of  thought, 
And  shows  life  growing  in  primordial  youth; 

A  prophet  in  a  fiery  chariot  caught, 

And  flaming  coursers,  it  is  breathless  brought 
To  Heaven's  threshold  in  wild  ecstasy; 

It  sees  worlds  rising  in  the  abyss  of  nought, 
The  miracles  of  death,  the  opening  sky, 
And  God,  unveiled  to  sense,  on  His  white  Throne 
on  high. 


THE  REIGN  OF  GOG.  105 

XII. 
A  rest  allowed  of  three  days  to  recruit 

His  myrmidons,  the  Scourge  of  War  resumed 
His  march,  destroying  on  his  blood-stained  route 

Whatever  Flora  or  Pomona  bloomed; 

And  shepherds'  huts  and  peasants'  shielings  doomed 
To  indiscriminate  sack;  and  soon  arrived 

At  where  Samaria's  scanty  ruins  loomed, 
A  square  piazza  with  cut  pillars,  rived 
By  ancient  war  and  rapine,  which  nought  else  survived1 

XIII. 

He  pitched  his  tent  that  eve  at  Jacob's  well, 

Where  the  frail  leman  found  the  flowing  Spring 

Of  Life  eternal,  quenching  Death  and  Hell. 

"  Ye  know  not  that  which  ye  are  worshipping," 
Said  Truth  unto  her;  '^psalms  and  hymns  ye  sing, 

Lip-service  to  a  god  of  wood  or  stone; 

But  the  hour  comes  when  ye  shall  incense  bring, 

The  homage  of  the  heart  to  Him  alone, 

Who  spirit  is,  not  flesh,  the  Everlasting  One !  " 

XIV. 

At  early  dawn  the  Heir  of  Satan  took 
Naplouse,  the  Sichem  of  primeval  days, 

Where,  when  he  had  his  father's  land  forsook, 
The  Friend  of  God  did  first  an  altar  raise 
To  the  Elohim  strange,  and  offer  praise 

To  the  Unknown.     Between  two  brother  hills, 
"  Of  Blessing  and  of  Cursing"  named,  it  lays, 

'Twixt  Jacob  blest  and  Esau  cursed  with  ills, 

A  town  of  bosky  bowers  and  green  indented  rills. 


io6  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

xv. 

Swiftly  Gog  passes  o'er  the  savage  spot, 
Where  first  was  set  up  the  palladium  Ark, 

Now  tenantless;  where  jealous  Jah  was  thought 
To  dwell  in  person,  till  misfortunes  dark 
Fell  upon  Israel.     Now  no  ruins  mark 

The  site  where  stood  the  golden  sanctuary; 
But  Desolation  howls  in  Shiloh  stark, 

The  viper's  den,  and  the  hyena's  sty, 

Yet  here  the  virgins  yearly  came  to  dance  with  glee. 

XVI. 

Here  the  boy  Samuel  dedicated  was 

To  locks  unshorn,  and  was  the  ritual  taught 

Of  Syrian  creeds,  the  prototypes  of  mass; 

And  here,  when  in  the  Temple's  inner  court, 
The  lamps  went  out,  the  air  with  voices  fraught 

Called  "  Samuel"  from  the  shrine.     "  Speak,  for  I 

hear," 
Replied  the  wildered  infant,  who  then  caught 

An  inspiration  from  his  very  fear, 

And  was  a  prophet  hence  o'er  kings  to  domineer. 

XVII. 

Thence  on  to  Luz,  where  thrifty  Wisdom  dreamed 
He  saw  a  ladder  climbing  to  the  sky, 

Up  to  the  crystal  doors,  whence  angels  streamed 
In  lengthened  files,  cinctured  in  panoply, 
And  down  and  up  the  steps  ceased  not  to  fly; 

And  over  it  the  Epiphany  of  Glory  shone, 
The  Urim  Thummim  of  the  Deity; 

Where  built  the  patriarch  o'er  his  pillow  stone 

A  cromlech  for  the  gate  of  God's  pavilion. 


THE  REIGN  OF  GOG.  107 

XVIII. 

"  Surely,"  exclaimed  he,  waking,  "  here  have  trod 
The  footsteps  of  the  Lord,  which  I  did  hear, 

And  I  will  call  this  cairn  the  House  of  God, 
For  o'er  this  place  His  Presence,  shining  clear, 
Filled  my  admonished  soul  with  dreadful  fear:" 

Hence  known  as  Bethel.     Thence  to  Gibeah  soon 
The  vanguard  fares,  where  till  the  flesh  grew  sere, 

Hanging  on  gibbets  on  the  rocky  dune, 

The  mother  watched  her  sons  beneath  the  sickening 
moon. 

XIX. 

Where  gads  the  bitter  wild  gourd  for  the  night 

They  camped,  where  erst  was  heard  a  wailing  sore, 
The  hollow  shriek  of  Rachel's  buried  sprite, 

Weeping  because  her  children  were  no  more  ; 

And  now  again  the  mother's  cries  deplore 
Her  slaughtered  innocents.     Ah!  sad  the  smart 

When  from  its  stem  is  culled  the  earliest  flower! 
But  still  more  painful  when  the  widowed  heart 
Must  from  its  last  beloved  and  sweetest  blossom  part ! 

xx. 

Grief  is  the  Angel  that  descends  to  stir 

Life's  troubled  waters  that  the  sick  may  heal — 

The  Seraph  sitting  at  the  sepulchre, 

Who  saith,  "Fear  not,  he's  risen,  and  his  weal, 
In  keeping  safe,  is  marked  with  Heaven's  seal: 

He,  whom  thou  seek'st,  if  thou  should'st  not  find  here, 
If  in  his  cave  of  spectres  Death  conceal, 

Is  ne'ertheless  not  dead,  but  to  the  sphere 

Of  sempiternal  joy  sped  from  his  mortal  bier." 


io8  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

XXI. 

Amid  the  wilderness  of  ocean  round 

The  Dove  no  rock  to  rest  her  weary  foot, 

Or  for  a  moment  fold  her  pinions  found; 
But  to  the  Ark  returned  ere  she  could  shoot 
Her  flight,  and  bring  the  slivered  olive's  fruit  : 

So  when  solstitial  droughts  of  Sorrow  dry 

The  fount  of  Hope,  that  waters  branch  and  root, 

Fly  to  the  Well  that's  in  the  Sanctuary, 

Whence  thou  mayst  strengthened  preen  thy  feathers 
for  the  sky. 

XXII. 

Ah,  many  a  wretched  mother,  many  a  child, 

Niobes  and  Astyanaxes,  pine, 
And  many  a  brother,  many  a  sister,  wild, 

Forlorn,  and  friendless!     As  the  chevrels  whine 

Beside  their  dead  dams  on  the  lea  supine; 
So  nurselings  by  their  parent's  corpses  sob  : 

No  more  on  them  paternal  eyes  will  shine, 
Nor  lips  maternal  kisses  from  them  rob, 
Nor  mother's  pillowing  breast  beneath  their  heads  will 
throb. 

XXIII. 

Fair  Zilia  from  her  window  often  looks 

To  listen  for  Adoram's  footstep  fall; 
Suspense  of  doubt  intolerant  she  brooks  : 

Sometimes  her  name  she  thinks  she  hears  him  call, 

And  startles  at  a  passing  funeral: 
There  is  an  anxious  flush  upon  her  cheek, 

And  dismal  presages  her  mind  appal ; 
And  yet  at  times  a  smile,  serene  and  meek, 
Her  hopeful  trust,   the  balm  of  grief,  would  gently 
speak : 


THE  REIGN  OF  GOG.  109 


Then  shudders  pale  when  they  her  husband  tell 
Had  wounded  been,  and  was  a  prisoner  now ; 

To. love  and  suffer  is  our  Heaven  and  Hell! 
Life  is  a  legacy  of  certain  woe, 
And  Love  a  lease  that  has  short  term  to  go, 

But  Joy  an  alibi  who  is  no  where ! 

She  lifts  to  azure  skies  her  pallid  brow 

In  dumb  appeal,   ''  O  why  is  misery  here  ? 

And  why  should  douleur  when  unmerited  appear  ?  " 

xxv. 
And  Heaven  interpellated  answers,   v<  Love ! — 

Love  constant,  faithful,  dutiful,  devout — 
Love  that  is  sent  thy  fortitude  to  prove  : 

What  would  be  human  happiness  without 

Its  trials  ?  but  a  Corybantic  route ! 
Look  to  thy  bridal  past  with  gratitude, 

And  though  thou  mayst  the  dark  of  future  doubt ; 
Yet  it  comes  from  the  Author  of  all  Good, 
Who  can  from  seeming  ill  educe  beatitude." 

XXVI. 

"  Affliction  is  the  golden  chain  that  draws 

Thine  earth  to  Heaven.     Hence  the  wistful  sigh 
For  bliss,  unsatisfied  through  nature's  laws, 

The  discontent  sublime  that  in  the  sky 

Seeks  for  the  lotus  of  tranquillity, 
Peace  that  is  born  of  faith,  by  patience  tried, 

Where  couched  on  golden  clouds  immortals  lie, 
And  festal  lamps  are  lit  at  eventide, 
And  joy-bells  peal  their  chimes  to  hail  the  affianced 
bride." 


i  io  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

XXVII. 

'Twas  now  the  season  of  the  equinox 
Autumnal,  when  in  even  scales  on  high 

The   days  and  nights  are   weighed ;    with   hurtling 

shocks 

The  gales  descended  from  the  lowering  sky, 
And  stripped  the  forests  of  their  panoply; 

But  not  with  laughter  songs  and  rustic  play 
Were  the  grapes  gathered,  but  were  left  to  dry 

And  wither  on  their  stalks;  and  now  display 

Red  fields  their  chequered  patches  where  sere  vines 
decay  : 

XXVIII. 

Now  the  bald  crowrn  of  barren  Pisgah's  head 
Is  curled  with  mist,  and  light  prelusive  showers 

The  runnels  fill,  rejoicing  in  their  bed, 

Leaping  o'er  ledges,  rushing  through  the  moors, 
To  tell  the  tidings  to  the  drooping  flowers, 

Parched  by  the  summer's  drought ;  the  sunshine  wan 
Streaked  hectic  flushes  on  deserted  bowers, 

And  the  slant  shadows  of  the  hills  that  ran 

Down  to  the  plain  seemed  steps  of  winter's  hurrying 
van. 

XXIX. 

The  height  of  Neby  Samuel  is  attained 

By  the  advancing  army,  and  in  state 
Predominant  the  cavalcade  has  gained 

The  purlieus  of  the  Holy  Town,  where  hate, 

Despair,  and  fear,  and  scorn,  their  passage  wait: 
The  soldan  on  his  charger,  shod  with  gold, 

And  freaked  with  tassels,  passed  the  northern  gate, 
Where  recreant  burghers,  who -their  God  had  sold, 
With  odious  zeal,  obsequious,  their  allegiance  told. 


THE  REIGN  OF  GOG.  in 

xxx. 

And  as  he  moved  along  the  crowd  increased; 

Men  cast  their  cloaks  and  women  threw  their  shawls, 
And  laid  them  on  the  ground  where  his  horse  paced ; 

Young  maidens  scattered,  as  at  carnivals, 

Sweet  flowers  before  him,  singing  madrigals; 
Children  were  on  their  parents'  shoulders  raised, 

And  gazed  affrighted,  for  the  pomp  appals; 
Before  his  path  were  myrtle  branches  placed, 
And  fronds  of  palms  were  waved  by  cravens  cowed 
and  dazed. 

XXXI. 

Hundreds  of  nis  own  followers  grovelling  fell 
Down  in  the  mire,  too  happy  if  he  rode 

Their  bodies  over,  for  strong  was  the  spell, 
That  could  believe  that  monster  was  a  god, 
And  o'er  their  skulls  he  contumelious  trod. 

"  O  Lord,  above  all  Lords  preeminent  ! " 
Exclaimed  the  cowering  brute  fanatic  sod: — 

"  Who's  like  to  thee,  and  who  thine  armament 

Can  vanquish  or  resist,  our  king  omnipotent  ?  " 

XXXII. 

"With  joy  thy  faithful  lieges  are  elate 

To  see  their  glorious  conquering  hero  come 

To  assume  irrevocably  his  estate 

O'er  all  the  world,  with  rolling  beat  of  drum, 
And  flourish  of  the  shawms  and  cannon's  boom : 

Let  us  be  glad,  and  sing,  and  shout,  and  laugh ! 
Now  stoop  your  heads,  ye  nations,  and  be  dumb, 

For  he  shall  break  you  with  an  iron  staff, 

And  on  his  threshing  floor  scatter  your  seed  as  chaff." 
7* 


2  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

XXXIII. 

From  the  adjoining  avenues  and  lanes 

Fresh  rabble  run  the  pageant  rout  to  swell: 

A  shower  of  bouquets  from  the  windows  rains, 
The  anger  of  the  bloody  Sword  to  quell, 
They  think  the  Key  of  earth  and  Heaven  and  Hell: 

The  balconies  and  terraced  roofs  are  thronged 
With  bevies  of  fair  women,  keen  to  sell 

Their  May-bloom  for  his  favor,  and  who  longed 

To   lure   the   tyrant's  lust,   who   had   their   country 
wronged. 

XXXIV. 

From  latticed  casements,  domes  and  parapets 

Hung  silken  mercery  of  Lyons'  dye, 
And  standards  flaunted  and  gilt  bannerets, 

While  shouts  of  welcome  drowned  the  secret  sigh; 

Here  lips  with  smiles  were  varnished,  there  the  eye 
A  love-shaft  darted;  kerchief,  veil,  and  scarf 

Were  waved  as  marched  the  shaggy  cohorts  by, 
And  greetings  sensual  answered  by  a  laugh, 
As  nodded  shameless  dames,  and  bowed  the  gew- 
gawed  staff. 

xxxv. 
'Tis  still  the  bravo,  whom  the  world  reveres, 

And  canonizes  as  its  god  divine, 
Most  homage  paying  there  where  most  it  fears! 

To  the  Destroyer  thousand  altars  shine 

With  sacrificial  flame,  while  the  benign 
Creator  of  what's  good  a  sacrifice 

Is  offered  up  to  sin,  or  left  to  pine 
In  wretchedness:  man  honors  crime  and  lies, 
But  truth  and  genius  hates,  and  persecutes  the  wise. 


THE  REIGN  OF  GOG.  113 

xxxvi. 
Come  here  thou  flunky  carl !  down  on  thy  knees, 

Thou  heartless,  mindless,  soulless  scribe,  and  troll 
Thy  hyperbolic  ranting  rhapsodies, 

That  wretch  to  honor,  on  whose  perjured  soul 

Is  blood,  fit  service  for  a  fustian  fool, 
Bombastic  pedagogue,  and  low  poltroon! 

"  The  meek  and  just  let  murdering  heroes  rule ! 
The  jaguar  hunts  the  ape,"  cries  the  buffoon; 
"So  human  tigers  ought  to  hunt  the  man  baboon! " 

XXXVII. 

Now  at  the  palace-port  the  train  alights, 

But  no  officials  came  there  to  escort 
The  victor's  entrance,  who  ascends  the  flights 

Of  porphyry  steps  to  a  wide  pillared  court, 

With  chiselled  tracery  and  corbels  fraught; 
And  thence  proceeds  through  darksome  empty  halls, 

And  lonely  chambers,  where  devices  wrought 
Of  rich  mosaics  decorate  the  walls, 
While  from  a  metope  an  owlet  hoots  and. calls. 

XXXVIII. 

Along  the  stuccoed  ceiling  spiders  had 

Spun  their  long  webs,  and  on  the  chequered  floor, 
The  snail  his  filmy  streaks  of  silver  made; 

On  the  gray  mullion,  cut  in  leaf  and  flower, 

On  clustered  shafts,  and  by  the  paneled  door, 
Basked  the  green  lizard,  wakened  by  the  sound ; 

The  bats  shriek  ghastly  as  from  quoins  they  soar; 
And  just  before  his  feet  a  snake  unwound 
Its  plaited  folds,   and    crawled  in  curves  along  the 
ground. 


1 1 4  TIME  AND  E  TERN1  TV. 

xxxix. 
Here  Gog  installed  himself  in  royal  state, 

And  sybaritic  luxury ;  but  sent 
Ryno  at  once,  his  minister  of  fate, 

Of  hellish  work  appropriate  instrument, 

To  Nile's  doomed  land,  on  baleful  vengeance  bent; 
And  the  Old  River  Dragon  was  again 

Hooked  in  her  jaw;  her  native  power  spent 
Since  her  great  god  incarnate  had  been  slain, 
The   Bull  that  worshipped  was  throughout  her  fair 
domain. 

XL. 
Leaving  his  forces  under  the  command 

Of  Rolf,  the  renegade,  to  guard  the  shore 
Of  the  Red  Sea,  and  watch  El  Mecca's  sand, 

The  coasts  of  Yemen  and  Hedjaz  to  scour, 

Afric  to  awe  and  Ind  to  overpower 
In  the  ensuing  summer,  Ryno  back 

Returns  to  Zion  through  the  gorge  El-Ghor, 
Past  Petra's  ruins,  on  the  pilgrim's  track, 
Where  eagles  brood  on  cliffs  amid  the  thunder  rack. 

XLI. 
A  census  the  draconian  king  ordained 

Of  all  the  Hebrew  tribes  in  Palestine; 
And  the  dime  was  of  either  sex  arraigned 

And  butchered  in  cold  blood,  to  serve  as  sign 

To  what  calamities  he  would  consign 
More  dreadful  who  should  seek  in  arms  to  rise, 

Or  who  should  dare  to  murmur  and  repine; 
A  soul  each  moment  from  its  troubles  flies; 
So  eagles  from  the  earthquake  mount  the  tranquil 
skies. 


THE  REIGN  OF  GOG.  115 

XLII. 

Then  guardian  Angels  to  the  heart  repair, 

In  night  shade  kneeling,  striken  sore  with  dole, 
And  oil  and  wine  pour  in  the  wounds  of  Care, 

And   Balm  of   Hope,   prescribed  to  make  them 

whole 

By  Mercy,  the  physician  of  the  soul  ! 
Blest  office,  often  by  some  child  from  life 

New  snatched,   performed,   from   pansy  meadows 

stole, 

Where  flowers  bloom  thoughts,  when  the  sad  plain- 
tive fife 

And  muffled  drum  announce  the  martial  murders 
rife. 

XLIII. 

How  sweet,  when  organized  again  in  death 

With  brighter  members,  down  on  Jacob's  stair 
To  visit  earth,  and  with  empyreal  breath 

Inhale  the  life-throb  of  our  natal  air, 

And  with  a  sympathy  immortal  share 
The  loved  one's  pain;  to  watch  each  budding  grace 

Unfold  its  petals,  till  an  amaranth  fair 
It  blows  for  Heaven;  to  look  on  each  dear  face, 
And  in  night's  visions  fold  them  in  a  fond  embrace  ! 

XLIV. 

He  also  claimed  of  every  thing  the  tithe, 
Of  fish  and  reptile,  and  of  bird  and  beast, 

The  premisce  of  the  sheaves  reaped  by  the  scythe, 
The  fatlings  of  the  flocks,  his  court  to  feast, 
Nor  spared  the  offerings  of  the  eucharist; 


ii6  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

Of  grown  up  men  for  servants,  youths  and  boys 

He  took  without  compunction  whom  he  pleased, 
And  girls  and  spinsters  for  his  palace  toys, 
And  for  his  horrid  harem's  foul  lascivious  joys. 

XLV. 
A  splendid  structure  was  this  palace,  built 

With  colonades  and  open  galleries, 
Architrave,  frieze,  and  cornice,  carved  and  gilt, 

And  cloisters  wainscoted  with  blazonries 

Of  arabesques  enamelled,  and  balconies 
With  perforated  sculpture  on  the  stone  ; 

Environed  by  a  garden  of  tall  trees — 
The  sycamine  that  silken  robes  had  grown, 
The  terebinth  whose  head  a  score  of  centuries  crown. 

XLVI. 
Here  his  debauch  in  a  superb  saloon 

He  held  with  bestial  orgies  bacchanal: 
On  opal  tables,  shining  as  the  moon, 

Was  spread  the  banquet  by  the  seneschal, 

And  revels  and  rude  riot  thronged  the  hall; 
TheVfloor  was  laid  with  Persian  carpets  soft, 

With  arras  hangings  tapestried  the  wall, 
And  on  a  dais  was  raised  a  chair  aloft. 
Sparkling  with  precious  gems,  as  daisies  in  a  croft. 

XLVII. 
The  seats  and  divans  were  of  ivory, 

And  thyine-wood  the  footstools,  rich  inlaid 
With  knops  of  bullion  frosted  filagree; 

And  costly  essences  a  perfume  shed, 


THE  REIGN  OF  GOG.  117 

Sweet  as  the  tribute  from  a  garden  bed 
Of  rose  and  orange  bloom,  and  murrhine  vases, 

With  choicest  flowers  rilled — an  Eden  made; 
While  bright  noonday,  a  candelabra  blazes 
Above  the  board,  and  like  a  sun  with  all  its  rays  is. 

XLVIII. 
The  ruby-studded  flagons  fume  with  wine 

Of  bouquet  exquisite  and  faultless  gout, 
In  whose  elixir  pearls  of  bubbles  shine, 

Wild  frolic  spirits  of  the  aerial  dew, 

Dancing  with  merry  glee  the  liquor  through; 
And  flaming  juleps  glow  like  tongues  of  fire 

In  crystal  beakers,  stained  of  every  hue; 
And  sherbets  scintillate,  drugged  to  inspire 
Jovial  delights,  and  dalliance  soft,  and  fierce  desire. 

XLIX. 
Viands,  the  most  esteemed  and  delicate, 

Are  heaped  on  porcelain  most  quaint  and  rare; 
Exotic  fruits,  banana,  mangoe,  date, 

Are  piled  on  painted  Japan  lacquer  ware; 

All  fragrant  berries  and  sweet  nuts  are  there; 
Raisins  which  had  their  waxen  bloom  preserved, 

As  if  still  breathed  on  them  the  summer  air; 
In  their  own  syrup  figs  that  were  conserved, 
On  carven  trays  of  scented  sandal  wood  are  served. 

L. 

Boisterous  the  cymbals  clash,  the  hautboys  blore, 

Loud  bang  the  gongs  as  thunderclaps  that  break ; 
Bassoons,  and  clarinets,  and  trombones  roar; 


u8  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

And  with  their  din  the  dreamy  soul  awake 
To  thoughts  heroic;  while  the  viols  speak 
A  language  softer  than  seductive  words; 

And  syren  harmony,  that  charms  the  snake, 
Subdues  at  will  the  hearts  of  savage  lords: 
The  spells  of  Orpheus  tamed  the  forest's  feline  hordes. 

LI. 
Then  Almeh  girls  are  introduced  to  dance, 

Mobled  in  gauzy  byssus,  light  as  wind, 
And  look  as  though  through  cloudlets  they  advance, 

Junos  in  mist,  whose  forms  voluptuous  bind 

The  floating  draperies,  round  them  unconfined, 
Concealing  not,  but  lining  out  the  shape, 

The  nude  conspicuous  made  to  attract  the  mind, 
Pleased  and  bewildered  till  the  senses  gape 
At  bitter  sweets,  though  hid,  exposed  from  heel  to 
nape. 

LII. 
To  melting  swoons  of  melody  they  move, 

Graceful,  yet  sensuous,  languorous,  yet  lithe, 
Breathing  the  blandishments  of  wanton  love, 

And  bliss  libidinous;  then  pert  and  blithe 

And  nimble  as  the  elves  of  fairy  myth: 
In  wreathed  embraces  limbs  and  bodies  twine, 

In  amorous  tangles  coiled,  as  boas  writhe; 
With  panting  hearts  and  heaving  bosoms  join, 
And  bright  with  gold  bezants  and  silver  crescents  shine. 

LIII. 

Bootless  were  then  the  bodice  or  the  shawl ! 
The  lynx-eye  pierces  of  delirious  lust 


THE  REIGN  OF  GOG.  119 

Through  the  transparent  vest,  the  lace,  through  all; 

And  envious  folds  licentious  fancies  thrust 

Aside,  and  riot  on  the  swelling  bust, 
And  all  the  witchery  of  wonders  there; 

Then  reels  the  masque  obscene  through  Hell  adust: 
Alas !  how  foul  is  woman,  yet  how  fair ! 
An  angel  and  a  beast  in  her  Circean  lair ! 

LIV. 

And  as  the  scarlet  joys  flash  from  keen  eyne, 
The  soul  turns  crazy  and  the  senses  blind; 

Grief  laughs,  but  soon  with  aching  bliss  to  pine, 
Pleasure  at  wisdom  cavils  care  to  find, 
False  friends  before  them,  and  dread  foes  behind, 

The  Heaven  of  Fools,  the  Madman's  Paradise ! 
O  Love,  that  all  endures,  and,  ever  kind, 

Would  pardon  all,  weep  for  the  blasphemies, 

That  would  with  these  dark  rites  profane  thy  secret 
sighs ! 

LV. 

Such  were  the  wassail  tournaments  that  passed 

In  Peer's  lewd  conventicle;  but  this  night 
The  tender  Zilia,  gyved  with  trouble  fast, 

Was  led  into  the  hall,  in  sorry  plight; 

The  dower  of  beauty  is  a  gift  of  spite. 
"O  canst thou  love,  fair  lady?"  asked  the  king; 

"For  thou  shalt  be  the  queen  of  my  delight, 
And  share  my  couch,  and  these  with  lutes  shall  sing 
Thee  to  sooth  sleep,  and  to  new  joys  awakening." 


120  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

LVI. 

"  Fiend,  desist !  I  never  can  love  thee ! " 
Returned  the  matron  mid  dire  agonies 

Of  honor  hurt  and  wounded  modesty : — 
"  Him  I  love  only,  who  my  husband  is, 
A  captive  in  thy  dungeon's  dark  abyss." 

"  He  shall  be  free  at  once  if  thou  wilt  smile, 
And  yield  thee,  not  disdainful,  to  my  bliss. "- 

"  Never  my  soul  shall  such  a  sin  defile ! 

I   loathe  thy  foul  advance,  and  spurn  thee,  monster 
vile!" 

LVII. 

"  Thou  speakest  like  an  Amazon  in  arms ! 

But  beauty's  lips  love's  nectary  should  be;" 
Replied  the  incubus: — "  Why  keep  thy  charms 

Locked  in  a  casket  in  obscurity  ? 

Love  freely  gives,  nor  doles  out  charity, 
Pleased  to  make  others  happy;  but  a  frown 

Was  never  badge  of  his  divinity. 
Thy  beauteous  temples  with  this  chaplet  crown, 
And  in  this  milk  of  Venus  bashful  scruples  drown." 

LVIII. 
"  A  braid  of  serpents  is  that  flowery  wreath, 

And  in  that  cup's  their  venom.     Thou  hast  spoiled 
With  lust  and  rapine,  sacrilege  and  death 

This  holy  land;  its  hearths  thou  hast  defiled, 

Its  altars  desecrated;  thou  hast  toiled 
For  evil  as  a  slave,  whipped  to  his  work ; 

Not  only  men  in  arms,  but  the  mere  child 
Thou'st  slaughtered;  demons  in  thy  senses  lurk, 
Hell's  atheist  priest  thy  heart  in  Hell's  blaspheming 
kirk!" 


THE  REIGN  OF  GOG.  121 

LIX. 

"  Feed  with  the  bread  of  scalding,  blistering  tears 
Thy  rage,  dread  tiger !  groans  thy  daily  food, 

And  gasps  of  agony,  and  palsied  fears ! 

Let  thy  revenge  and  malice  drink  hot  blood, 
Foul  Death-Snake  crawling  in  a  slough  of  mud ! 

Scourge  to  the  living,  curse  to  the  unborn ! 
A  terror  not  to  evil,  but  to  good ! 

Thou  darnel  choking  bearded  ears  of  corn ! 

Thou  murrain-breeding  frost  that  kills  the  lamb  new- 
shorn." 

LX. 

"  Beware  lest  thy  vituperative  words 

Accuse  thy  life! "     "I  nothing  have  to  fear 

From  thee,  or  from  thy  minions'  dastard  swords. 
What  canst  thou  do  that  I  should  dread  to  bear? " 
"  I'll  rack  thy  husband,  dame,  and  thou  shalt  hear 

His  groans,  and  see  him  struggling  hard  to  die, 
Yet  death  shall  not  come  near  him;  and  I'll  tear 

Thy  tongue  for  uttering  impiety, 

And  for  thy  hate  and  pride  pluck  out  thy  scornful  eye." 

LXI. 

The  menace  terrified  the  loving  wife, 

Pale  as  if  hemlock  on  her  cheek  the  blood 

Had  froze  exanimate;  but  short  the  strife 

'Twixt  fear  and  honor:  back  the  pulses  flowed 
The  ebbing  tide  of  crimson  shame  till  glowed 

Her  face  a  furnace;  quick  she  gasped  for  breath 
To  dike  the  rising,  inundating  flood 
Of  inward  grief;  prepared  to  suffer  death, 

Thus  she  addressed  her  God  to  strengthen  fast  her 
faith. 


122  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

LXII. 

"  O  Thou,  who'rt  clothed  with  radiant  stars,  and  hast 
The  Heavens  for  Thy  Palace,  whose  white  Throne 

Is  built  through  space  with  strong  foundations  fast 
On  every  orb  secured,  who  walk'st  alone, 
Unseen,  the  pathless  firmament  upon, 

Rid'st  on  the  wings  of  Time  through  the  thick  crowd 
Of  living  worlds,  and  hang'st  the  sun-dyed  zone 

Of  woven  dew  Thy  banner  in  the  cloud, 

Dost  Thou  in  proud  disdain  Thy  face  divine   en- 
shroud ? " 

LXIII. 

"  Who  drivest  in  Thy  chariot  for  Thy  steeds 

The  lightning  yoked  with  thunder,  who  on  waves 

Tread'st,  and  the  storm  in  silent  calm  recedes, 

Who  blowest  with  Thy  breath,  and  the  blast  raves 
And  surging  billows  yawn  with  myriad  graves, 

O  art  Thou  incommunicable  to  man, 

Who,  when  he  calls  upon  thee  but  vainly  craves 

For  a  kind  Father,  failing  Thee  to  scan  ? 

O  wilt  Thou,  still  unknown,  him  from  Thy  presence 
ban?" 

LXIV. 

"  In  Thy  impenetrable  omniscience  hid, 

Veiled  in  the  splendor  of  Thine  infinite  glory, 

Dost  thou  him  scorn  his  puny  cares  amid, 
And  mean  emprises,  to  his  piteous  story 
Deaf  and  indifferent,  nor  grieved  nor  sorry  ? 

Art  Thou  insensible  to  his  agony  ? 

Shall  thy  keen  knife  of  wrath  be  always  gory, 

And  Death  forge  weapons  in  Thine  armory  ? 

Thy  mercy,  mercy  I  pray  with  due  humility! " 


THE  REIGN  OF  GOG.  123 

LXV. 

Then  to  the  tempter: — "  Harken  to  my  prayer! 
My  husband  from  the  felon's  jail  release ! 

And  when  shall  press  on  thee  a  load  of  care, 
May  Heaven  in  pity  then  thy  burden  ease, 
And  send  to  thee  a  messenger  of  peace ! 

0  spare  his  life!  to  me  than  mine  more  dear! 
And  to  whatever  torture  thou  mayst  please 

Me  to  condemn,  whatever  toil  severe, 

1  will  endure  without  a  murmur  or  a  tear! " 

LXVI. 

"  Can  I  not  sue  for  favor  for  my  lord  ? 

Can  I  not  plead  with  thee  ?  "     "  Yes,  thou  shall 

plead, 
As  pleads  the  antelope  when  it  has  implored 

The  hungry  pard,  and  its  torn  members  bleed 

Beneath  his  fangs.     Slaves,  drag  her  to  my  bed, 
Her  couch  of  pleasure  or  her  burial  bier  ?  " 

"  The  angel  that  protects  the  virtuous  head 
Be  now  my  shield  against  this  devil  here : 
O  Gog,  I  summon  thee  in  judgment  to  appear." 

LXVII. 
Gog  snatched  his  poniard  and,  inebriate 

With  wine  and  passion,  plunged  it  in  her  side, 
And  let  her  soul  out  through  a  narrow  gate; 

She  reeled,  and  quivering  fell,  and  gasping  died 

And  quickly  to  her  ruthful  Father  hied; 
Who  wipes  the  flowing  tears  from  dolorous  eyes, 

And  touches  the  dead  lips  revivified: 
Aneled  and  shrived  all  her  sin's  penalties, 
In  the  Good  Shepherd's  breast,  a  Lamb  of  God  she 
lies. 


124  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

LXVIII. 

Brief  was  thy  dream  of  life,  and  briefer  still 
Thy  dream  of  bliss  Utopian,  passed  away 

To  where  thou  canst  no  more  feel  mortal  ill! 
As  a  bright  star  unseen  in  the  broad  day, 
His  Cynosure,  Love  sought  thee,  but  thy  ray 

Blessed  not  his  vision,  and  the  mournful  hours 
Like  phantoms  crept  that  after  shadows  play; 

Yet  when  the  thundering  storm  most  angry  lowers, 

Across  its  frown  where   blackest  smiles  the  arch  of 
showers. 

LXIX. 

Why  hast  Thou  made  the  beautiful  so  sad  ? 
We  gaze  spell-bound,  till  the  delicious  sight 

Sinks  in  the  heart,  with  melancholy  mad 
To  muse  so  sweet  a  morn,  so  soft  a  light 
Must  change,  and  fade,  and  darken  into  night: 

Where  dost  thou  hide  the  lovely,  Death,  oh  where  ? 
That  the  fond  soul  may  thither  take  its  flight, 

To  sunset  islands  of  the  summer  air; 

For  never  grave  can  hold  the  beautiful  and  fair. 

LXX. 

Although  the  lord  of  earth,  man  is  but  here 

An  alien,  for  his  home  is  in  the  skies: 
The  problem  dark  of  evil  will  be  there 

Resolved,  and  sorrow's  painful  mysteries; 

There  the  dead  flowers  of  sacred  memories 
Preserve  their  native  odor,  and  smell  sweet 

As  holy  incense,  where  if  nature  sighs, 
'Tis  with  the  glory  of  the  Paraclete, 
For  human  sense  of  love  with  joyaunce  too  replete. 


THE   ADVENT  OF  THE   MESSIAH. 


CANTO    VII. 


JgLONG  the  valley  of  Jehosaphat, 

And  on  the  Mount  of  Olives  lie  encamped 
Gog's  lawless  army,  living  on  the  fat 
Of  the  rich  land,  whose  tilth  they  reckless  tramped, 
And  in  the  primaveral  furrows  stamped 
The  bladed  foison;  in  their  horse-hair  tents 

Carousing,  till  bedaubed  with  wine  they  ramped 
As  fauns  and  satyrs,  with  their  clouts  in  rents 
From  drunken  broils  amidst  the  graves  and  monu- 
ments. 

n. 
Many  took  shelter  in  the  succoth  bowers, 

Wattled  with  boughs  umbrageous  'gainst  the  cold, 
Rude  wurleys  pervious  to  the  vagrant  showers; 
And  such  as  still  the  savage  wanderers  hold 
In  hearse-like  she-oak  glade  or  scrubby  wold; 
Where  at  the  full  moon  the  corroboree 

With  shield  and  spear  is  danced  by  warriors  bold, 
Painted  with  ochre,  while  the  hue  and  cry 
The  dingoes  frighten  prowling  near  the  sheep-pens  by. 


126  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

III. 
Close  to  the  sepulchres  the  Kedron  ran 

Through  feathered  papyrus  and  banks  of  bays, 
A  bubbling  brooklet  'mid  the  flags  that  fan 

Its  fretted  surface ;  further  through  the  haze 

The  gilded  towers  of  the  Temple  blaze; 
A  golden  sunshine  burnished  by  the  light; 

And  domes,  and  cupolas,  and  steeples  raise 
Their  heads  above  the  gray  frieze  cloak  of  night, 
And  tops  of  poplars  bloom  with  burning  chrysolite. 

IV. 

Still  are  the  cuboid  houses  craped  in  mist, 

Aurora's  veil,  but  the  fogs  roll  and  rise, 
And  melt  in  saffron,  rose,  and  amethyst — 

Transmuted  by  the  magic  of  the  skies; 

The  wild  thorpe  with  the  cultured  garden  vies; 
Both  seem  a  field  of  verdant  fire  to  be, 

Freckled  with  snowy  blooms  and  scarlet  dyes; 
Vineyards  and  corn-fields  clothe  the  hill  and  lea, 
Aud  palms  and  cypresses  swim  o'er  the  verdurous 
sea. 

v. 

Thou,  sultan  of  a  harem  of  world-wives, 
Robed  in  ethereal  vesture !  masculine 

Spirit,  that  shed'st  thine  influence,  and  lives 
Nature,  formed  from  thy  quintescence  divine, 
With  thy  reflected  smiles  thy  consorts  shine ! 

Thou  god  exalted  on  thy  seat  on  high ! 

Yet  of  thy  gorgeous  honors  nought  is  thine; 

He  who  hath  set  thee  there  to  king  the  sky, 

Could  hurl  thy  flaming  pomp  to  dark  nonentity! 


THE  ADVENT  OF  THE  MESSIAH.  127 

•  VI. 

Still  further  were  the  aloe  mammelons 

Of  Bethlehem,  hallowed  by  the  mystic  birth 
Of  him,  the  Lord  plenipotent  of  Thrones, 

Though  but  an  outcast  when  he  lived  on  earth; 

Where  he,  the  Guide,  through  alleys  blind  of  death 
To  star-illumined  immortality, 

First  drew  in  human  shape  his  mortal  breath, 
Ere  by  his  Passion's  triumph  in  the  sky 
He  gained  for  us  a  life  that  can  for  never  die. 

VII. 

There  still  some  youthful  pastor,  feeds  his  flocks, 
Perhaps  with  Jesse's  blood  within  his  veins, 

With  David's  blue  eyes,  and  his  golden  locks, 
And  on  his  harpischord  plays  sacred  strains, 
Or  tunes  his  lyre  to  dulcet  love's  refrains; 

While  rings  the  tinkle  of  the  wether's  bell, 

Leading  the  ewes  to  pasture  through  the  lanes — 

A  sweet  illusive  sound  that  seems  to  tell 

Of  miraged  homes  in  clouds  where  happy  creatures 
dwell. 

viii. 

For  Gog  had  stopped  his  persecutions  sore, 
And  tried  to  court  the  favor  of  the  Jews; 

And  Christian  proselytes  oppressed  no  more, 
Winning  them  back  by  means  of  saintly  ruse, 
And  catering  artfully  unto  their  views : 

He  wished  to  pass  for  their  Messiah  King; 
He  strove  to  please,  cajole  them,  and  amuse; 


128  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

And  many  of  them  ceased  their  murmuring,, 
Caught  by  the  serpent's  eye,  and  wounded  by  his  sting. 

IX 

A  man  of  genius,  science,  and  of  art, 

Consummate  was  he,  skilled  in  altar  lore; 

With  brain  capacious,  and  a  little  heart, 
And  of  audacity  a  boundless  store: 
What  is  forbid  he  sought  most  to  explore: 

In  alchemy  profound,  he  had  found  out 
How  to  convert  to  gold  dross  iron  ore; 

A  wizard  wondrous,  he  could  by  a  shout 

Make  imps  and  ginns  appear,  and  order  them  about. 

t         x. 

He  juggled  miracles;  his  touch  could  heal 
The  evil  in  the  blood;  his  look  could  ope 

From  filmy  eyes  the  scales  that  darkness  seal; 

The  deaf,  the  dumb,  the  dwarf,  who  mow  and  mope, 
The  lame  and  crippled  who  on  crutches  grope, 

Would  walk  away  quite  whole;  and  pain  and  ache 
He  numbed  by  necromancy;  fear  and  hope, 

Alternate  he  inspired,  for  he  could  make 

The  living  senseless,  and  the  dead  to  seem  awake. 

XI. 

He  caused  an  idol,  of  himself  the  mould 
And  likeness  to  be  shaped;  and  in  the  court 

Of  his  seraglio  placed  the  imaged  gold, 

And  from  the  cloud  the  sprite  of  lightning  caught, 
And  life  Pygmalic  in  the  statue  wrought; 

And  at  the  sound  of  sackbut,  flute,  and  drum, 


THE  ADVENT  OF  THE  MESSIAH.  129 

Blind  worm  of  darkness,  ordered  all  who  thought 
That  he  of  Jewry  and  of  Christendom 
Was  the  expected  Lord,  to  worship  it  should  come. 


And  gangs  of  acolytes  at  the  beat  of  drum 
Fail  on  their  faces  in  the  dust  before 

The  image,  while  the  air  spins  with  the  hum 
Of  music,  and  the  algum's  swinging  shower, 
And  multitudes  collected  to  adore, 

While  beadles  holding  verges  cry,  "Lo!  this 
Is  our  god  whom  our  humble  prayers  implore : 

Tinkle  the  sistrum,  and  bow  down,  and  kiss 

His  sacrosanctic  feet  with  piety  and  bliss." 


And  a  voice  from  the  automaton  cries  thus: 
"  Behold  the  day  appointed  is  now  come, 

When  I  with  man  uncontumacious 

Will  make  a  covenant  new.    I  will  consume 
No  more  the  land,  nor  contrite  nations  doom 

To  pains  and  penalties;  but  I  will  write 

My  law  upon  their  minds,  and  build  my  home 

Within  their  hearts,  their  Lord  of  love  and  light, 

And  they  shall  be  my  people,  and  I  their  God  of 
might." 

XIV. 

'Twas  Ryno,  Satan's  proxy,  hid  within 
The  oracle,  who  through  a  tube  that  led 

Up  to  its  mouth,  roared  with  cavernous  din 

A  ghastly  sound  that  struck  their  souls  with  dread, 
So  that  none  there  dared  then  lift  up  the  head — 


j 30  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

Ryno,  the  accomplice  of  the  Man  of  Sin, 

High-Priest  of  Anti-Christ  there  worshipped, 
Who  of  the  Beast  had  the  False  Prophet  been, 
Determined  that  the   Dragon  earth  for  Hell  should 
win. 


Still  more  audacious  and  malignant  grown, 

Gog  now  conceives  the  horrible  design 
Within  the  Temple  to  usurp  the  Throne 

Of  living  flame,  essential  soul  divine, 

And  with  its  simulated  lustre  shine  : 
Hence  he  ordains  a  proclamation  through 

The  tribes  of  Israel,  that  the  inner  shrine, 
The  Holy  of  Holies,  in  the  veil  of  blue, 
To  all  who  faithful  were  would  be  exposed  to  view. 

»  xvi. 

Where  they  might  Eloh  in  his  glory  see, 

Where  they  must  come,  and  incense  burn  to  him, 

At  the  Passover  feast,  and  bend  the  knee, 
And  him  invoke  in  a  triumphant  hymn, 
As  he  rides  on  the  wings  of  cherubim ; 

The  paramour  of  pride  is  blasphemy. 
The  festal  day  is  come  to  act  this  whim 

Unsanctimonious;  this  profanity 

Insensate  and  defiant  against  the  Deity. 

XVII. 

The  Abomination  of  Desolation  sits 
On  the  most  holy  place  of  all  the  earth, 

And  mocks  at  Goodness,  with  his  scornful  wits, 
Shameful  arid  sacrilegious,  venting  forth 


7 HE  ADVENT  OF  THE  MESSIAH.  131 

Foul  perfidies  against  celestial  Worth, 
Plenary  Truth,  and  Grace  ineffable, 

And  all  embracing  "Love,  provoked  to  wrath, 
That  Heaven  should  thus  be  parodied  by  Hell, 
And  on  the  Mercy  Seat  the  Beast  should  dare  to  dwell. 

XVIII. 

Night  as  a  ghost  in  sable  stole  had  fled, 

And  all  the  stars,  each  called  by  his  own  name, 

Had  muster  passed  and  sought  repose  in  bed; 
But  seraphim  and  ministers  of  flame 
Rise  from  their  sky-roofed  pallets  and  proclaim 

The  Adorable  how  good,  in  full-choired  song 
Hymning  the  day-spring  o'er  the  land  of  Shem; 

Then,  stealing  colors  that  to  clouds  belong, 

Bourgeon  the  vernal  year  Judea's  hills  among. 

XIX. 

It  was  a  lovely  morn.     The  dews  of  spring 
In  rosy  showers  had  rinsed  the  locks  of  Night; 

Each  twig,  and  blade,  and  tuft  was  blossoming, 
Flushed  into  life  by  kisses  of  the  light, 
Till  the  gay  sward  with  dangling  bells  was  bright; 

The  air  was  redolent  of  cordial  balm, 

And  touched  the  pulse  that  tingled  with  delight; 

Boon  nature  chanted  a  thanksgiving  psalm, 

And  all  was  tender  mirth,  bland  joy,  or  dulcet  calm. 

'  XX. 

For  the  Spring  is  an  ever  new  Messiah, 

That  comes  with  tidings  of  reviving  life 
To  elements  that  quicken  and  expire, 


132  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

But  never  perish  in  the  plastic  strife 

With  benizons  innumerable  rife: 
He  wakes  the  embryons  in  their  still  graves  laid 

With  March  winds  playing  on  their  shrilly  fife; 
The  germs  start  up,  in  mantling  green  arrayed, 
So  man  shall  rise  again  from  the  tomb's  silent  shade. 

XXI. 

And  a  kind  nurse  is  Spring  that  tends  the  buds, 
Sleeping  in  cradled  cotton,  and  the  May 

With  pearly  buttons  decks,  and  ruby  studs, 
Brushing  the  mildew  from  the  blistered  spray, 
And  charming  canker  and  the  blight  away; 

The  midwife  of  all  mothers,  and  she  opes 
The  eyes  of  new-born  creatures  to  the  day, 

When  life  with  promise  dawns,  and  joys,  and  hopes, 

A  floating  dreamy  land  through  which   the   infant 
gropes. 

XXII. 

Now  frequent  rainbows  span  the  hills  and  dales, 
Waking  beneath  them  freshest  odors,  now 

Through  daphne  copses  fume  the  spicy  gales, 
And  where  the  scented  cones  of  lilacs  blow, 
Or  swings  the  chalice  from  magnolia's  bough: 

Look  where  the  flower- rain  fell  upon  this  bank; 
It  is  enamelled  with  the  gorgeous  show 

Of  intermingled  dyes,  with  beauty  rank, 

Matched  by  the  glittering  gems  that  every  hedge-row 
prank. 

XXIII. 

The  fruitful  life  is  swelling  in  the  sap, 
And  drinking  sunshine:  low  the  acacia  bows 


THE  ADVENT  OF  THE  MESSIAH.  133 

Its  golden  head,  and  willows  water's  flap, 
And  sweep  their  emeraldine  beads  in  rows 
Along  the  ripples;  the  pomegranate  glows 

With  blushing  lips,  such  as  young  virgins  boast; 
Bending  the  blue-eared  rye  the  zephyr  throws 

Across  the  field  a  shadow  like  a  ghost, 

And  plots  of  thyme  are  drowsed  by  bees,  a  swarming 
host. 

XXIV. 

Again  the  tonsured  flamens  singing  throng, 
Again  the  signal  drum,  and  trumpet's  blast 

Announce  the  advent  of  the  god  they  long 
To  see  and  honor.     The  purple  veil  is  cast 
Aside,  and  in  the  inner  court  they've  passed, 

Where  in  the  shrine,  between  the  cherubim, 

Sits  the  blown  mountebank.     The  crowd,  aghast 

At  the  electric  nimbus  in  a  rim 

Round  his  head  circumfused,  bow  down  and  worship 
him; 

XXV. 

Then  their  obsequious  bodies  prostrate  throw, 
And  beat  their  temples  fearful  to  upraise 

Their  looks,  lest  from  the  figure  splendors  glow, 
And  strike  them  blind  with  the  terrific  blaze, 
But  grovelling  cry  aloud: — "We  dare  not  gaze! 

Thy  glory  is  too  bright,  but  shine,  thou  sun! 
And  fill  thy  tabernacle  with  thy  rays! 

Our  King  on  earth,  our  God  in  Heaven  alone, 

We  hail  thee,  Shiloh,  on  thine  everlasting  throne!" 


134  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

XXVI. 

And  from  the  shekinah  responds  a  voice : — 

"Who  shall  abide  my  presence,  who  shall  stand 

When  I  shall  come,  preceded  by  the  noise 
Of  trumpets  sounded  by  my  angel  band, 
To  judge  the  quick  and  dead  throughout  the  land  ? 

But  now  rejoice,  O  Zion !  and  break  forth 
In  songs  hilarious,  for  my  strong  right-hand 

Shall  lift  thee  to  the  skies!     O  shout  with  mirth, 

For  thy  God  shall  be  Lord  and  Priest,  o'er  all  the 
earth!" 

XXVII. 

Sin  paves  the  road  for  Ruin  to  ride  on; 

And  vassal  votaries  with  fetish  fear, 
Through  the  wild  hurly-burly  push  where  shone 

The  demiurgic  light,  formed  to  appear 

A  ring  or  aureole  of  luminous  air. 
But  now  two  men  in  fetters  are  with  force 

Dragged  by  some  officers,  who  the  path  clear 
With  blows  of  whips  and  staves,  and  threatenings 

coarse, 

Shouting:  "Make  room,  make  room,"  with  accents 
loud  and  hoarse. 

XXVIII. 

"Here  is  a  patine  of  sweet  frankincense 
To  offer  to  our  god,"  then  Ryno  cried; 

"  And  bend  your  stubborn  knees,  and  show  your  sense 
Of  his  high  favor,  who  for  ye  have  died, 
Whose  bigot  fathers  had  him  crucified ! " 

"A vaunt  thee,  imp  of  evil!"  quick  returned 


THE  ADVENT  OF  THE  MESSIAH.  135 

Adoram,  "and  in  midnight  horrors  hide! 
Our  fathers  have  the  serpent  always  spurned, 
And  we  will  draw  our  steps  from  where  his  fire  has 
burned." 

XXIX. 

"  That  Thou  wouldst  rend  the  Heavens,  and  come 
down, 

And  view  man's  wickedness,  whose  cup  is  full 
Of  vile  abominations,  from  heel  to  crown 

Whose  flesh  is  rottenness;  how  monarchs  rule 

Thy  people,  slaughtered  to  amuse  a  fool, 
How  they  scoff  holiness  their  state  to  keep, 

Where  aping  godhead  sits  the  glutted  ghoul ! 
Awake  Thy  sword !  ah,  shall  it  ever  sleep  ? 
The  orphan  calls  to  thee,  and  widows  wail  and  weep !  " 

XXX. 

Then  Methulah,  regarding  sternly  Gog, 

Wheie,  seated  on  the  cherubs  of  the  Ark, 
He  beamed  in  artificial  fiery  fog, 

Thus  vented  his  reproach:  "Thou  demon  dark, 

Sin's  transmigrated  earthly  hierarch, 
Hell  has  bestirred  its  dead  thy  ghost  to  meet, 

They're  marching  hither  cold,  and  stiff,  and  stark; 
I  see  the  shades  of  kings  come  forth  to  greet 
Their  fellow  shade,  I  hear  the  pattering  of  their  feet ! " 

XXXI. 

"  In  thine  heart  thou  hast  said,  '  I  will  ascend 

To  Heaven,  I  will  exalt  my  throne  above 
The  stars  of  God,  and  ministers  I'll  send 


136    -  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

Furies  and  fiends  through  the  world  to  rove, 
With  works  of  ill  requiting  acts  of  love; 
I  will  climb  up  above  the  height  of  clouds, 

Within  the  Mountain  of  the  Lord  I'll  move;' 
Yet  shalt  thou  be  brought  down  among  the  crowds 
Of   skeletons    that    sleep    not,    though    in    winding 
shrouds." 

XXXII. 

"  How  art  thou  fallen  from  thy  proud  estate, 
Son  of  the  morning,  and  the  bright  day  spring! 

How  are  the  nations  in  their  joy  elate, 

That  thou  are  low  ?  and  they  triumphant  sing, 
'  Was  this  the  man,  this  filthy,  festering  thing, 

That  shook  the  kingdoms,  and  a  desert  made 
Along  his  path,  plundering  and  murdering, 

Who  lieth  infamous  among  the  dead, 

With  swarming  worms  that  crawl  around  his  rotting 
head  ? "  ' 


"  Off  with  his  head ! "  screamed  Ryno,  when  the  sound 
Was  heard  of  thunder,  and  the  Temple  rocked, 

And  the  earth  heaved  beneath,  and  split  the  ground; 
And  they  who  had  the  glory  of  Goodness  mocked 
With  terror  and  alarm  were  sudden  shocked; 

The  roof  fell  in  with  crackle  loud,  and  down 

Shattered  the  beams  and  rafters  where  had  flocked 

The  idolaters,  mid  stour  and  debris  thrown; 

But  when  they  upward  looked  the  kindling  zenith 
shone 


THE  ADVENT  OF  THE  MESSIAH.  137 

xxxiv. 

With  war's  resplendent  pomp  and  panoply; 

And  martial  armies  issued  from  Heaven's  gate, 
Mounted  on  steeds  that  through  the  cloud-drifts  fly, 

And  at  their  head  upon  a  White  Horse  sat 

"  Faithful  and  True,"  the  messenger  of  Fate! 
His  eyes  are  flashing  as  a  coal  of  fire, 

With  pride  of  conscious  strength  godlike  sedate, 
A  vesture  dipped  in  blood  his  limbs  attire, 
And  golden  diadems  he  wears  in  triple  tier; 


And  on  his  garment  written  is  a  name, 

"The  King  of  Kings,  and  of  all  Lords  the  Lord," 
He  who  had  once  been  sore  reviled  with  shame, 

While  a  mere  man,  but  now  the  exalted  "  Word, 

In  whom  is  Life !  "  the  two-edged  cutting  sword, 
The  flaming  brand  and  thunderbolt  of  Truth, 

Victorious  o'er  im  posters  and  the  horde 
Of  lying  prophets,  darts  from  out  his  mouth, 
And  sceptres,  croziers  smites,  crowns,  mitres  without 
ruth: 

XXXVI. 

And  him  attended  Michael,  the  great  prince, 
Equipped  with  Medusean  aegis  shield, 

The  captain  of  the  armed  sabaoth  since 
His  dread  encounter  in  the  battle  field 
With  Satan,  when  the  fiend  did  to  him  yield, 

And,  howling,  fled  to  hide  his  shame  in  Hell: 
Now  with  his  lance,  invincible  to  wield, 

He  standeth  up  for  downcast  Israel, 

Strong  as  a  garrisoned  and  rock-bound  citadel. 


138  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

XXXVII. 

The  hiss  of  rushing  wings  inflames  the  air 
With  storms  meteorous,  a  dance  of  fire : 

As  when  the  northeast  wind  hath  wrapped  the  sphere 
In  gloom,  and  drives  along  the  billow's  spire, 
And  sudden  Thrascias  wakes  with  maddened  ire 

Contending  waves  on  waves  opposing  pour 
Their  foaming  legions,  in  confusion  dire; 

If  then  the  sun  look  from  his  ebon  tower, 

A  crested  spray-bow  sits  each  surge,  an  Iris  shower. 

XXXVIII. 

And  in  the  blazing  sun  an  Angel  stood, 
And  louder  than  the  raging  tempest  cried: 

"  Come  all  ye  vultures,  with  your  hideous  brood, 
From  Nebo's  scarped  pile,  and  Sinai's  side, 
To  Jordan's  banks,  and  the  Dead  Sea's  dull  tide, 

To  feast  on  flesh  of  kings  and  mighty  men; 
Come  all  ye  ravens  swift  from  deserts  wide, 

From  Cushite  islands  and  the  Tyrian  main, 

A  banquet  waits  for  you  of  steeds  and  heroes  slain." 

xxxix. 
"Thy  '  Mene  Tekel'  's  writ  by  God's  own  hand, 

Who  is  against  thee,  Gog,  and  thy  lewd  slaves; 
A  mound  of  bones  shall  be  thy  ravaged  land, 

Thy  council  chambers  be  possessed  by  graves, 

And  Death  his  simoom  shadow  wave  where  waves 
Thy  cruel  ensign !  an  astonishment, 

A  hissing  shall  become  thy  wizard  knaves, 
Star-gazing,  and  plagues  after  them  be  sent, 
And  all  the  beauty  of  thy  excellence  be  rent!  " 


THE  ADVENT  OF  THE  MESSIAH.  139 

XL. 
"  Thy  harlots,  wives,  and  concubines  I'll  smite 

With  scab  upon  the  crown  of  each  one's  head; 
And  boils  shall  on  their  painted  beauty  light, 

Burning  instead  of  blooming;  and  thy  bed 

Shall  be  a  sty  polluted  by  the  dead; 
The  ghosts  of  all  thy  victims  round  thee  fly, 

And  thy  dirge  sing  thy  martial  chants  instead ! 
Hermon  shall  weep  no  more,  nor  Lebanon  cry, 
Nor  Zion,  garbed  in  ashes,  crouch  in  dust  and  sigh ! " 

XLI. 
Then  swift  the  war  descends  with  horrent  sheen; 

More  fervid  glows  the  corruscating  light 
From  chariot  wheels  that  burn  the  hyaline, 

And  glittering  blades  that  silver  streamers  pight, 

Like  moonbeams  rippling  on  the  tide  at  night; 
Through  thunders  rolling  move  the  cohorts  blest, 

Through  lightnings  flashing  Jesus'  feet  alight, 
And,  whence  he  had  ascended,  touch  the  crest 
Of  Olivet,  and  cleave  its  centre  where  they  pressed, 

XLII. 
Delving  a  valley  from  the  south  to  north, 

And  the  marquees  demolishing  and  tents, 
Where  camped  the  ethnic  legions;  thence  spread  forth 

Earthquakes  their  havoc,  fracturing  monuments, 

Domes,  steeples,  towers,  and  pinnacles  to  rents 
Through  the  death-stricken,  terror-quailing  land; 

Fowls  of  the  air  scream  out  their  loud  laments, 
Beasts  of  the  field  are  faint,  and  cannot  stand, 
And  fishes  of  the  sea  are  cast  upon  the  strand. 


140  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

XLIII. 

The  forked  leven  struck  the  brasted  hill, 

And  a  rain  fell  of  brimstone,  hail,  and  fire, 
A  stream  of  horror  into  Kedron's  rill, 

Scathing  the  army  with  combustion  dire, 

Brent  as  a  hecatomb  upon  a  pyre; 
The  magazines  exploded  through  the  smoke 

Scattering  pavilions  in  the  sanguine  mire, 
And  howitzers,  guns,  wains,  and  litters  broke, 
To  comminuted  fragments  crashed  of  slags  and 
coke. 

XLIV. 

Smothered  with  dust  and  blinded  with  thick  clouds 

Of  ashes,  like  a  storm  of  snow  at  night, 
Against  each  other  the  battalious  crowds 

Rise  with  implacable  but  deceptive  spite  ; 

For  frantic  was  their  unpercipient  sight : 
And  in  the  darkling  fray  was  Ryno  slain, 

And  Gog  was  wounded  in  the  desperate  fight; 
No  more  invulnerable,  and  died  in  pain, 
Hurling  defiance,  hate,  and  unsubdued  disdain. 

XLV. 
Their  souls  for  condign  punishment  to  Hell 

Were  cast  at  once,  by  sentence  just  their  doom, 
Ere  final  judgment,  there  in  chains  to  dwell, 
The  beast  and  the  False  Prophet  in  the  tomb 
Of  black  Gehenna's  escharotic  spume, 
To  antidate  the  death-coil  of  the  snake, 

The  death-throes  when  their  tenuous  frames 
consume, 


THE  ADVENT  OF  THE  MESSIAH.  141 

With  the  fireworm's  forestalling  sting  to  ache, 
And  only  after  penance  done  to  pardon  wake. 

XLVI. 
Ephemeral  flowers  of  summer!  still  we  strive 

For  gilded  cares,  and  yearn  that  fame  consort 
Our  living  name  when  we  have  ceased  to  live ; 

A  plaster  cast  shall  from  thy  face  be  wrought, 

When  thy  renown  posthumous  slanders  rot ! 
But  guilt  that  blossoms  will  not  ripen  seed, 

The  thwarted  sapling  grows  a  monstrous  sport, 
On  foulest  soil  springs  up  the  rankest  weed, 
And  muggy  airs  the  rust  in  nubile  Ceres  breed. 

XLVII. 
Full  long  the  combat  raged,  and  dire  the  slaughter 

Along  the  slopes  and  hummocks,  far  and  near; 
The  corpses  filled  and  choked  up  Kedron's  water, 

Running  with  foamy  gore,  a  shamble  where 

The  wounded  and  the  dying  mingled  were; 
A  pile  that  heaped  the  valley  newly  made, 

And  the  whole  precincts  of  the  sepulchre, 
Where  of  the  Hebrew  race  in  peace  are  laid 
After  a  troublous  life  so  many  of  the  dead. 

XLVI1I. 

A  sacrifice  inexpiable  makes 

The  Lord  at  Bosrah,  where  the  Mongols  lay 

As  thick  as  locusts;  the  land  reels  and  shakes, 
Caverns  of  pitch  burst  open  to  the  day, 
Heaving  their  floppy  billows,  and  display 

A  lake  bituminous,  that  overflows 


142  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

And  runs  in  ancient  moraines  on  its  way 
Through  bluffs  and   gulches,  whence  the  dust  that 

blows, 
With  flakes  of  sulphur  laden,  scorches  where  it  goes. 

XLIX. 
The  vast  battalions  suffocated  fall, 

And  perish  by  the  flames;  in  boiling  blood 
The  mountains  melt;  through  the  dun  air  the  call 

Is  heard  of  angels,  as  the  lava  flood 

And  rocks  they  throw  with  repercussing  thud ; 
The  sun,  eclipsed,  rolls  dead,  a  ball  of  jet, 

A  darkened  halo,  like  a  widow's  hood, 
Wimples  the  moon,  and  asteroids  beset 
The  pyrotechnic  skies  and  dusky  ruin  threat. 


This  is  the  day  of  the  Lord  God  of  Hosts — 

His  day  of  vengeance !  drunk  the  sword  shall  be 

With  blood;  the  field  shall  shriek  with  wounded 

ghosts ! 

Take  Balm  of  Gilead  for  thy  malady, 
Daughter  of  Babel !  drastic  scammony 

And  senna  shall  not  purge  thy  murder  clean, 
Nor  hellebore  thy  madness!  wail  and  cry, 

And  curse  thee  that  thou  ever  born  hadst  been ! 

Thine  ulcer  shall  not  heal,  but  fret  and  fester  green. 

LI. 
An  everlasting  monument  of  wrath, 

A  fire  unfueled  burns  there  night  and  day, 
Tenacious,  that  henceforth  there  is  no  path 


THE  ADVENT  OF  THE  MESSIAH.  143 

Through  which  the   nomade  tribes  may  find  their 

way : 

The  Arab  on  its  verge  looks  with  dismay 
On  smouldering  fumes  and  intermittent  flame, 

And  dares  not  venture,  but  will  kneel  and  pray; 
And  shudders  with  disgust,  and  fear,  and  shame, 
As  the  charred  skulls  he  sees,  and  worms  consuming 
them. 

LII. 

Of  those  who  fugitive  escaped  the  sword 

The  greater  part  were  seized  with  pestilence; 
For  fevers  fluttering  in  the  air  were  stored, 

With  subtle  venom's  fierce  maleficence; 

The  flesh  fell  daily  off  from  corpulence, 
And  maculated  gangrene  sloughed  the  hide; 

Within  their  caverned  sockets  shrunk  the  sense 
Of  vision  dark;  tongues  schirrous  no  more  lied; 
And  thus  they  wasted  slow  away,  until  they  died. 

LIII. 

The  same  dijjease  the  camel,  horse,  and  mule, 
The  ass,  and  sheep,  and  cattle  sapped  and  killed : 

The  choughs,  and  gledes,  and  eagles  feasted  full; 
Their  maws  the  panther  and  the  jackal  filled, 
And  gorged  and  glutted  freely,  as  they  willed; 

Picking  the  brains  of  heroes  and  of  kings, 

Crunching  the  bones  with  bloody  marrow  spilled, 

And  champing  gristle,  nerves,  and  sinew-strings; 

And  blow-flies  swarmed,  arid  left  their  loathsome 
festerings. 


144  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

LIV. 

"  Great  Pan  is  dead"  and  buried  in  his  grave, 
A  tenant  of  the  fox  and  blind  mole's  home, 

In  Hammon  vale,  east  of  the  Dead  Sea's  wave, 
With  thousands  of  his  people  round  his  tomb, 
Where  they  await  in  dust  the  trump  of  doom. 

The  caravans  from  Edom  pass  the  spot, 

But  speak  not,  as  with  hurried  step  they  roam 

Past  where  the  tabooed  relics  moldering  rot, 

So  much  they  dread  his  name,  and  fear  his  horrid 
lot. 

LV. 

His  voice  they  think  they  hear  in  all  the  sounds 
Of  the  weird  wilderness,  in  the  shrill  burr 

The  locust  trills,  monotonous  rebounds, 
And  droning  chirm  of  insects,  in  the  stir 
Of  waving  grasses,  and  the  rumbling  whirr 

Of  dust  tornadoes  on  the  asphaltic  coasts ; 
And  that  dead  silence  of  the  desert  air, 

That  awed  the  night-watch  of  the  patriarch's  posts, 

Brought  howls  and  moanings  to  them  from  the  land 
of  ghosts. 

LVI. 
So  thorough  was  the  rout,  and  so  complete 

The  irreparable  ruin,  few  returned 
To  their  own  ingles,  after  their  defeat, 

Bearing  the   spores   of  plagues   their  blood   that 

burned 

Boils  and  carbuncles,  till  their  lives  they  spurned; 
For  the  imposthume  foul  their  vitals  ate; 


THE  ADVENT  OF  THE  MESSIAH.  145 

And  northern  snows  and  tropic  sunshine  learned 
Their  sad  disasters,  and  the  fearful  fate 
That  had  whelmed  Gog  in  the  vale  of  Jehosaphat. 

LVII. 
"Now,  Michael,  go  with  these  embodied  hosts, 

And  chain  the  King  of  Terror  and  of  Hell, 
That  for  a  thousand  years  o'er  only  ghosts 

In  Hades  he  may  reign,  his  pride  to  quell— 

Informidable,  impuissant  to  rebel: 
So  he  no  more  may  prowl  upon  the  earth, 

And,  entering  men,  their  souls  with  fury  swell 
To  violate  God's  altar,  and  man's  hearth, 
As  late  he  demonized  the  sultan  of  the  north." 

LVIII. 
So  ordered  the  Messiah,  and  so  obeyed 

The  Virtue  militant,  with  his  squadrons  bright, 
Succinct  in  arms  of  heavenly  temper  made, 
With  beauty's  terrors  winged,  that  through  the 

night 

Blaze  irresistible,  and  the  fiends  affright: 
No  thought  of  battle  entered  Satan's  mind ; 
He  yielded,  but  with  hard  averse  despite, 
And  stern,  though  helpless,  him  they  sullen  bind, 
Loaded  with  ponderous  chains,  that  round  his  body 
wind, 

LIX. 
Like  a  huge  hydra,  tangled  round  his  limbs, 

And  crushing  with  their  gordian  knots  his  head ; 
While  flaming  gurge  stupendous  o'er  him  climbs, 
With  boiling  smoke  of  sweeping  torment  spread, 


146  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

For  a  millennium  hence  to  be  his  bed : 
Then  with  a  golden  key  the  massive  door 

Of  triple  adamant  they  locked,  and  sped 
Through  vacuous  fields  of  air,  a  dismal  moor 
To  life  insuperable — a  sea  without  a  shore. 

LX. 
As  sung  the  morning  stars  when  rose  this  earth 

From  chaos,  so  the  sons  of  Heaven  sing 
The  joyful  tidings  of  her  second  birth, 

And  Eden  lost  regained,  till  voices  ring 

With  jubilates  to  the  Almighty  King, 
Protector,  and  to  His  victorious  Son, 

From  the  rich  Fount  of  Love  the  flowing  spring: 
"  Righteous  Thy  judgments  are  on  Babylon — 
The   Scarlet   Whore    that   sat    on   earth's    imperial 
throne!" 

LXI. 
"  The  king  of  swords  is  smitten  by  the  sword, 

By  death  he's  slain  who  'gainst  the  living  fought; 
The  draff  of  worms  become  who  was  the  lord 

Of  pomp  and  grandeur;  the  false  Prophet's  caught 

By  his  own  lie;  the  god  is  turned  to  nought; 
The  lecher  to  the  sting  of  lust  is  doomed; 

The  thief  before  the  leet  of  sessions  brought; 
The  murderer  in  a  living  grave  is  tombed 
Till  in  Hell's  caldron   blood  for  blood  is  all  con- 
sumed." 

LXII. 

"The  enchanter's  bitten  by  his  own  charmed  snake; 
The  cruel  hunter  by  his  hounds  is  torn; 


THE  ADVENT  OF  THE  MESSIAH.  147 

Who  dreamed  of  glory,  now  in  dole  awake, 
Discrowned,  and  of  his  gilded  gewgaws  shorn, 
Is  dust  and  loathsome  garbage !     Hence  to  mourn 

His  heinous  sins,  the  red-ignited  coal, 

Whose  ash  consumes  not,  but  will  ever  burn, 

Tortures  with  branding  cautery  his  soul, 

Till  the  archangel's  trump  shall  call  Death's  muster 
roll." 

LXIII. 

"  Babylon  is  fallen,  fallen,  and  become 
An  Ichabod,  the  nest  where  roosts  the  owl, 

And  broods  o'er  ruins  and  the  rotting  tomb; 
There  the  hyena  and  the  tiger  prowl, 
And  hairy  satyrs  to  their  fellows  howl; 

Where  stood  her  palace  courts  there  dragons  breed, 
And  crawl  o'er  lichened  columns  serpents  foul; 

Cormorants  in  her  grass-grown  fortress  feed, 

And  in  the  stagnant  ditches  sheds  the  toad  her  seed." 

LXIV. 

"  As  high  uplifted  as  she  was  with  pride, 
Low  is  she  sunk  in  ignominious  shame: 

'  I  am  a  Queen,  above  Queens  magnified,' 

She  flaunting  said,  '  and  glorious  is  my  name  I 
And  the  whole  earth  is  shadowed  by  my  fame! 

I  am  no  widow  and  shall  see  no  sorrow, 

And  who  shall  dare  my  wantonness  to  blame  ? 

From  every  hour  some  new  delight  I'll  borrow' — 

But  judgment  came  with  death,  and  mourning  in  the 
morrow.'' 


I48  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

LXV. 

"  Silence  usurps  her  alabaster  halls, 

No  rustic  game  nor  merry  wake  is  there ; 
No  laugh  of  masque  nor  chant  of  madrigals; 

No  harper,  piper,  and  no  trumpeter! 

There  is  a  shudder  in  the  very  air, 
As  though  the  wind  were  struck  with  leprosy, 

And  the  ground  smells  of  mold  of  sepulchre; 
No  harvest-home  nor  vintage  song  there  be; 
No  village-roundel  dance  beneath  the  linden  tree.'-' 

LXVI. 

"  No  more  the  candles  at  her  windows  shine, 
Nor  grinds  the  mill-stone  corn  for  food  of  man, 

Dumb  is  the  camel's  growl,  the  low  of  kine, 
Dried  is  the  rill  that  through  the  meadow  ran, 
And  dulcet  pleasure's  turned  to  bitter  bane; 

No  tender  swain  woes  there  his  bashful  bride, 
Nor  works  at  any  craft  the  artisan, 

No  princely  merchants  in  her  marts  abide; 

But  Time,  mid  moldering  walls  croons  requiems 
over  pride." 


THE    MILLENNIUM. 


CANTO    VIII. 


his  saints  the  Prince  in  his  Beauty  reigns, 
Anointed  King,  and  sits  upon  the  throne 
JOf  the  Messiah,  and  irrepressible  gains 
Triumphs  o'er  Death  and  Satan;  not  alone, 
But  with  his  twelve  Apostles,  each  upon 
A  chair  of  honor,  placed  on  either  hand, 

As  gyre  the  planets  round  their  central  sun; 
And  round  the  regent  powers  disciples  stand, 
Thick  as  the  shells  are  strewn  on  Cooandilla's  strand. 

ii. 

Then  thus  in  cadence  sweet  that  seems  a  hymn 
Attuned  in  Paradise,  though  dire  the  words, 

Yet  not  in  anger,  "  Go,  ye  cherubim, 

Armed  with  the  terror  of  your  flaming  swords, 
And  slay  of  aggravated  crime  the  hordes; 

Out  of  my  vineyard  root  what  weeds  offend, 
Gog's  servile  slaves,  and  proud  imperious  lords, 

So  that  of  his  plantations  there  be  end; 

But  blind  the  leven  that  no  good  man's  house  it  rend." 


150  TIME  AND  ETERNITY, 


In  threatening  equipage  the  angels  start, 
By  carnal  organs  unperceived,  though  seen 

By  incorporeal  instincts,  Death's  own  dart, 

Poising,  a  brand  that  waves  with  lightning's  sheen, 
No  rock  so  hard  could  dint  its  edge  so  keen; 

Through  the  cloud-isles  of  air  a  rushing  storm, 
Sliding  as  shadows  over  hillocks  green, 

Treading  the  sward,  yet  crushing  not  a  worm, 

And  wading  through  the  sea  whereon  no  ripples    • 
form. 

IV. 

No  solid  frame  compact  of  thews  and  bones 

Had  they,  but  vehicles  of  essence  through, 
That  glistered  like  the  glow  of  precious  stones, 

And  shadows  luminous  around  them  threw; 

But  when  on  their  transparence  morning  drew 
His  scarf  of  sprinkled  fire  incentive  burned 

As  when  he  stamps  his  signet  on  the  dew; 
And  as  their  glossy  pens  the  azure  spurned, 
A  blaze  of  emerald  eyes  to  glistening  sunbeams 
turned. 

v. 

They  enter  in  the  palace  bathed  in  light, 

In  honor  of  the  birth  of  the  king's  son, 
The  first-born  of  his  loins,  and  him  they  smite, 

And  his  sire  sitting  on  his  ivory  throne, 

And  the  queen  in  her  gay  pavilion, 
Glad  mother  of  an  hour;  who,  as  the  gales 

From  rose-bud  blooms  her  bosom  lying  on 


THE  MILLENNIUM.  151 

She  breathes,  with  flutter  strange,  the  pest  inhales, 
And  flushes,  moans,  and  gasps,  and  in  death's  rigor 
pales. 

VI. 

They  penetrate  unknown  within  the  hall, 
Where  gulls  the  senate  the  sleek  orator, 

And  touch  his  lips  that  drop  with  honeyed  gall, 
The  malefactor's  opiate  spiced  with  myrhh, 
Whose  heart  is  treason's  skilled  artificer, 

And  straight  the  traitor  swoons  and  staggering  dies: 
In.-;ide  the  minster's  furbished  theatre, 

And  as  the  preacher  gospel  sells  and  buys 

Mammon,  asphyxiate  the  throat  that  utters  lies. 

vn. 
The  lovely  Edith  figures  at  the  ball, 

In  masquerade  costume,  a  sprightly  fay, 
For  'tis  the  season  of  the  carnival : 

A  will-o'-wisp  was  she  that  led  astray 

Impassioned  hearts,  the  theme  of  laureate's  lay; 
And  as  the  basilisk  from  her  blue  eye 

Destruction  deals  on  whom  its  glance  survey, 
She  sudden  shrieks,  and  the  shrill  piercing  cry 
Tolls  her  own  knell  of  bliss  from  thoughts  of  too 
much  joy. 

VIII. 

A  child  is  lying  on  its  mother's  lap, 

And  from  the  coral  of  her  breast  sucks  life, 

As  draws  a  lily  from  its  stem  the  sap: 

The  mother  's  slaughtered  by  a  phantom  knife, 
9 


152  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

And  is  become  of  Death  the  phantom  wife ; 
The  child  has  milked  the  last  drop  it  shall  drain, 

It  beats  the  nipple  with  infantile  strife, 
And  chides,  and  tries  to  coax  the  breast  again, 
Then  falls  convulsed,  for  it  has  swallowed  mortal  bane. 


The  money  lender,  piling  up  his  heaps, 
The  scrivener  at  his  ledger,  casting  up 

False  figured  wealth;  the  spendthrift,  as  he  sweeps 
Gold  into  dust;  the  drunkard  at  his  cup, 
As  he  the  essence  of  Hell's  fire  would  sup; 

The  steward,  as  he  rifles  manor  deeds; 
The  libertine,  to  joys  effete  the  dupe; 

The  civet  lover,  as  his  suit  he  pleads: 

The  tares  and  kidlock,  these  from  corn  the  gleaner 
weeds. 

x 
The  gambler,  w?ho  has  staked  his  all,  and  lost 

The  unlucky  throw,  with  only  time  to  say 
"  O  treacherous  fate!"  when  he  himself  is  tost, 

A  wrecked  waif,  stranded  on  perdition's  way, 

With  deathful  shame  the  forfeiture  to  pay; 
The  assassin,  who  in  ghost-light  ambush  lain, 

Is  waiting  secret  there  his  friend  to  slay; 
The  swindler,  as  he  snatches  at  his  gain; 
By  brands  intangible  inevitably  are  slain. 

XI. 

The  workshop,  office,  laboratory  and  mill, 
The  barracks,  alms-house,  hospital,  the  jail, 


THE  MILLENNIUM.  153 

Sounds  of  despair  and  lamentation  fill; 
For  everywhere  doth  ashen  doom  prevail, ' 
And  skill  and  knowledge  are  of  no  avail; 

Belligerent  armies  in  their  burial  field, 

Frigates  and  yachts  on  peace  or  war  that  sail, 

Who  hold  the  plow,  or  who  the  mattock  wield  ; 

The  citadel  of  life  all  at  the  summons  yield. 


Now  Israel  looks  on  him  whom  she  did  pierce, 
And  mourns  for  him  as  for  an  only  son, 

And  weeps  disconsolate,  sad,  wild,  and  fierce, 
That  she  had  him  reviled  and  spat  upon, 
More  splendent  now  than  feigned  Hyperion; 

Her  hymn  of  faith  no  more  a  dirge  of  woes, 
But  as  the  stars  when  is  eclipsed  the  sun 

Peer  out  at  noon,  so  high  uplifted  rose 

Her  pride,  although   her  head  with  self  reproaches 
bows. 

XIII. 

" O,  comfort  ye,  my  people!  for  ye  are 

Pardoned,"  cried  Jesus  to  the  afflicted  race, 

Now  penitent;  "  O  comfort  ye,  whose  war 
Is  ended !     Wake,  O  wake,  with  shining  face, 
Put  on  of  snowy  lawn  the  robes  of  grace, 

Thy  brows  with  oak  instead  of  cypress  deck, 

And  round  thy  loins  the  zone  of  strength  enlace; 

Thy  bonds  and  fetters  loosen  from  thy  neck, 

And  rise  thee,  Zion's  daughter,  rise  thee  from   thy 
wreck ! " 


154  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

XIV. 

Then  answered  Methulah,  and  all  the  Jews 
Assembled  there,  "  Hosannah  to  our  King! 

The  Lord  Our  Righteousness,  whom  we  refuse, 
No  longer  faithless.  Strike  the  golden  string, 
And  let  the  dulcimer  with  praises  ring, 

Let  cymbals  clang,  the  clamor  of  our  joys, 
O  welcome  him,  for  he  doth  victory  bring! 

Then  let  us  wear  him  in  our  memories, 

A  sign  upon  the  hands,  frontlets  between  the  eyes." 

xv. 
"  O  that  we  could  the  guilty  past  discharge 

As  a  dishonest  servant.     But  to  us 
The  morning  star  on  the  horizon's  marge 

Thou  art,  that  from  the  valley  nebulous 

Calls  the  dead  light  to  rise  all  glorious. 
Our  arm  was  broken,  thou  didst  bind  it  up; 

Our  horn  cut  off,  with  chaplets  beauteous 
Of  living  love  and  of  immortal  hope 
Our  temples  crown,  and  give  us  joy's  overflowing  cup. 

XVI. 

"  Honored  still  more  than  Judah's  prince  will  be 
Jesus,  our  great  Deliverer,  in  whose  face 

Beams  reconciliated  amity, 

The  earnest  of  eternal  peace  and  grace, 
And  whose  forgiving  arms  his  foes  embrace : 

The  herald  of  sweet  charities  to  men, 
Thou  in  our  dolor  art  the  voice  that  says, 

'  O  come,  all  ye  who  are  with  care  and  pain 

Laden,  and  ye  shall  rest  from  heavy  fardels  gain.'" 


THE  MILLENNIUM.  155 

XVII. 

"  O  who  hath  heard  or  who  hath  seen  such  things! 

Shall  Palestine  bring  forth  within  a  day 
A  nation  ?     Yes,  for  on  her  sufferings 

Shiloh  took  pity,  and  doth  now  repay 

Her  double  for  her  sorrow  and  dismay. 
The  grace  of  glorious  Love  abides  with  thee, 

And  not  the  Terror  that  delights  to  slay; 
Gentiles  shall  come  the  Lord  of  Life  to  see, 
And  kings  shall  wait  in  state  upon  his  majesty." 

XVIII. 

Yes,  Jesus  is  Messiah  in  their  esteem, 

And  when  they  speak  of  him  they  think  of  all 
That  in  a  man  a  paragon  we  deem, 

The  milk  of  Heaven  without  earthly  gall; 

And  hence,  because  so  good,  divine  him  call; 
The  filial  image  of  that  Love  and  Grace, 

Transcendently  expressed  celestial 
In  plenitude  only  on  his  Father's  face, 
But  of  the  glory's  train  the  trailing  skirts  they  trace. 

XIX. 

When  cauterises  shame  the  ulcered  heart, 

Prayer  is  the  panacea  of  penitence, 
The  cooling  cerate  mollifying  smart; 

The  rose  of  care,  Golconda's  excellence, 

The  fragrant  smoke  of  aloes  frankinsence; 
Like  those  fair  worlds  which  only  shine  at  night, 

Then  through  the  gloom  that  shadows  soul  and  sense 
Glimmer  sweet  thoughts  whose  lustre  is  the  light 
Of   Heaven's   sun- burst   of  Love,   the    Fountain    of 
Delight. 


156  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

xx. 

Now  companies  of  shipping  hail  the  shore, 
Bringing  the  seed  of  Abraham  from  afar, 

Wherever,  bruised  and  beaten,  peeled  and  sore, 
Their  scattered  remnants  persecuted  are, 
A  people  crushed  and  trodden  down  by  war; 

In  vessels  swift  they  fly,  as  through  the  clouds 
The  flocks  of  swallows  for  the  southern  star, 

Mindful  of  seasons,  steer,  or  storks  in  crowds 

Sail  for  their  homes  when  skies  the  brumal  Scorpion 
shrouds. 


Leviathans,  with  wings  and  iron  feet, 

From  British  Thule  upon  thy  children  wait, 

And  galleons,  hearts  of  oak,  the  ocean  fleet 
With  their  gold  and  their  silver  for  a  freight, 
Them  to  their  promised  empire  to  translate; 

Where  foreign  artisans  build  up  their  walls, 
In  mansions  lodged  in  oriental  state, 

When  kings  from  Congo  shall  frequent  their  halls, 

And  saints  from  Columkill  meet  at  their  festivals. 

XXII. 

Now  traverse  caravans  the  wilderness, 

And  trains  of  dromedaries  and  zebras  wend 

Through  tunneled  oceans,  convoys  numberless; 
The  roads  are  filled  with  wagons  without  end, 
And  pendulous  fleets  aerial  billows  rend; 

All  hasting  on  towards  Jerusalem, 
With  unconstrained  fealty  to  bend 


THE  MILLENNIUM.  157 

To  their  Messiah,  with  the  diadem 
Of  Heaven  crowned  on  earth,  and  now  revered  by 
them. 

XXIII. 

New  homes  are  founded,  cities  are  restored 

Long  desolate  in  ruins,  and  the  land, 
For  centuries  fallowed  by  the  fire  and  sword, 

Is  plowed  and  planted;  and  again  shall  stand 

Another  Temple,  raised  without  a  hand, 
Irradiated  with  devotion's  flame; 

And  widowed  Zion,  at  her  Lord's  command, 
Espoused,  shall  be  baptized,  and  take  his  name, 
"  Jehovah  Shammah,"  no  more  earth's  prodigious 
shame. 

XXIV. 

The  calumet  is  smoked,  for  men  are  wise; 

They  sow  their  glebe  with  corn,  and  trail  the  vine, 
And  Israel  Beulah  blooms  a  Paradise; 

Their  curds  the  peasants  eat,  and  drink  their  wine, 

And  teach  their  gladness  to  the  mandolin; 
The  mountain  flows  with  milk,  and  drops  the  mead 

Manna  and  balsam,  and  in  l«vesome  twine, 
With  wreaths  of  roses  bound  around  the  head, 
The  buxom  damsels  dance  beneath  the  teil-tree's  shade 

XXV. 

"  Soft  as  the  whisper  of  the  flowing  tide 
That  babbles  secrets  to  the  sands  beneath, 

The  night  winds  through  the  musk  geraniums  glide, 
And  lilies  that  enshrine  Eve's  virgin  breath, 
Sweet  as  the  consciousness  of  peace  in  death. 

Sleep,  my  betrothed,  and  of  Elysium  dream, 


158  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

And  murmur  smiles  that  rosy  kisses  wreath! 
Stars  kiss  their  sisters,  dipping  in  the  stream, 
From   oak  to  elm    the  fire-fly's   twinkling    lanterns 
gleam." 

XXVI. 

"'Awake,  my  love,  my  fairest,  come  away! 

For  lo !  the  winter's  past,  the  rain  is  gone, 
And  the  green  lap  of  earth  spring  flowers  array 

With  an  embroidered  apron.     Spruce  and  boon, 

Rise  from  thy  couch  with  all  thy  bravery  on ! 
The  time  of  singing  birds,  sweet  love,  is  come; 

I  hear  them  choiring  spousals,  dearest  one ! 
The  turtles  bill  and  coo,  the  herons  boom, 
And,  borne  on  wings  of  song,  larks  pierce  the  star- 
thatched  dome." 


"  Noiseless  and  silent  as  the  falling  dew, 

Step  on  the  beds  of  spice,  and  come  to  me, 
And  I  will  spread  my  banner  over  you 

In  Nature's  boudoir  and  young  nursery ! 

.  Oh !  come  and  view  how  shoots  the  henna  tree, 
How  the  vine-bloom  embalms  the  prime  of  May, 

How  king-cups  dance  to  the  wind's  minstrelsy; 
How  smells  the  ambrosia  of  the  new-mown  hay! 
Come  with  thy  dove's  eyes,  love,  and  bring  with  thee 
the  day." 

XXVIII. 

And  often  ministers  of  grace  descend 

Swift  through  the  darkness  as  an  aerolite, 

Yet  drop  as  soft  as  feather's  down,  and  wend 
The  dingles,  with  perennial  flowers  bright, 


THE  MILLENNIUM,  159 

Celestial  telegraphs  from  Heaven's  height 
To  earth  become  as  Heaven,  so  pure  and  fair; 

The  angelus  salutes  the  dawn  of  night, 
The  break  of  morning  and  the  noontide  air, 
And  voices  in  the  sky  join  in  the  complin  prayer. 

XXIX. 

Now  glorified  immortals  rule  in  peace, 

And  judge  mankind:  no  martial  trump  is  heard 

All  cries  of  strife  and  shouts  of  anger  cease, ; 
But  the  bee's  hum,  and  chirp  of  tuneful  bird, 
The  bleat  of  sheep,  and  lowing  of  the  herd 

Attest  the  rural  concord;  hammers  clang 
No  more  on  anvils  forging  spear  or  sword; 

No  deadly  thunders  from  the  cannons  bang, 

No  more  the  earth  is  torn  by  war's  infuriate  fang. 

XXX. 

Mad  Discord  of  his  red  torch  is  disarmed  ; 

By  Chastity  the  satyr  Lust  is  tamed, 
The  thyrsus  of  blown  Bacchus  drunk  is  charmed 

By  Virtue  mild  and  comely;  now  is  shamed 

Greed  but  to  own  the  useless  pelf  he  claimed; 
Corroding  rusts  the  armor  on  the  ground, 

The  banner  rots  that  erst  in  battle  flamed, 
And  falchions  with  green  myrtle  boughs  are  bound, 
No  longer  taught  to  kill — no  longer  taught  to  wound. 

XXXI. 

The  pomp  of  military  state  is  past; 

The  men-o'-war  are  rigged  in  argosies, 
Chartered  with  trade,  that  binds  the  nations  fast 
9*' 


160  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

In  brotherhood  of  love;  no  longer  flies 

The  viking  on  his  odious  embassies; 
And,  that  worst  scourge  of  cruel  avarice, 

No  more  the  slaver  on  its  errand  hies; 
But  mission  ships,  that  bear  the  Savior's  kiss, 
Now  visit  tropic  isles,  and  pagans  call  to  bliss. 

XXXII. 

No  Alabamas,  built  by  envious  hands, 

And  hostile  hearts,  friends  spurious  and  untrue,. 
And  manned  by  pirates,  not  by  patriot  bands, 

The  loathsome  spawn  of  crime's  imbruted  crew, 

'As  stealthily  hyenas  fawns  pursue, 
Pounce  on  their  prey,  no  war  accoutred  foe 

In  equal  fight,  but  unarmed  brethren,  who 
Are  helpless  to  resist — till  oceans  grow 
A  howling  wilderness,  a  burning  hell  of  woe. 

XXXIII. 

Come  down  from  thy  false  glory  and  thy  pride, 
Daughter  of  Mammon,  sitting  by  the  sea! 

Thy  garments  are  in  blood  of  Gambia  dyed, 
Thy  cauls,  thy  tires,  thy  silken  broidery, 
Thy  chains,  thy  rings,  all  beauty's  treasury; 

The  swaddling  of  thy  babes,  thy  bride's  white  wreath, 
The  shroud  that  laps  thy  dead,  by  slavery 

Are  tiger-spotted;  hardness  shadoweth 

With  Egypt's  plague  thy  heart  for  Egypt's  sin  of 
death. 


The  harvest  of  the  ocean  is  thy  wealth, 
Thy  navies  plough  its  ridges,  and  thou  art 


THE  MILLENNIUM.  161 

The  Gipsy  Queen  of  trade,  by  cruel  stealth 
Of  sinews,  thews  and  muscle,  brain  and  heart, 
With  pilfered  toggery  and  trinkets  smart, 

A  harlot  tricked  in  meretricious  gaud ! 

Thou  donkey  drawing  Dizzy's  cabbage-cart! 

Crawl  on  thy  knees  in  mud,  thou  pimping  bawd, 

And  prostitute  thy  soul  to  some  rich  tory  lord ! 

XXXV. 

As  in  primeval  days  before  the  flood 

The  brawny  patriarchs  lived  a  thousand  years, 

So  now  so  healthy  beats  the  vigorous  blood 
The  human  being  but  a  youth  appears, 
Although  a  century  old;  and  the  sire  rears 

His  children's  offspring,  generations  born 
To  tenth  descendant's  progeny,  nor  fears 

That  his  posterity  will  be  forlorn, 

For  autumn  piles  the  barn,  and  plenty  pours  her  horn. 

xxxvi. 
"  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  thou  shalt  eat  bread 

Till  thou  return  unto  the  ground ! "     Such  was 
The  primal  curse  for  sin;  but  now,  instead 

Of  thorns  and  thistles,  barley  springs  and  grass, 

And  the  rocks  turn  to  silver,  gold,  and  brass; 
Fountains  of  oil  down  trickle  bleak  hillside, 

Through  prairies  and  savannahs  freshets  pass; 
The  barren  plateau  drinks  the  limpid  tide, 
And  through  the  arid  steppe  irriguous  runnels  glide. 

XXXVII. 

The  mirage  has  become  a  real  lake, 
The  sand  ffesed  into  water;  navies  sail 


1 62  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

Where  late,  on  bitter  shrubs  and  thorny  brake, 
The  wild  ass  grazed;  swift  as  the  simoom  gale, 
Nations  migrate  along  the  iron  rail, 
Where  the  keen  ounce  pursued  his  flying  prey, 
Or  fiercer  Bedouin  tracked  the  pilgrim's  trail; 
And  lightnings,  tamed  and   taught,  man's  thoughts 

convey 

Down  through  the  depths  of  night,  up  through  the 
realms  of  day. 

xxxvni. 

The  desert  shall  rejoice,  and  like  the  rose 
Blossom  with  pampered  verdure;  lofty  trees, 

The  sainted  cedar  that  on  Lebanon  grows, 
The  martial  oak  that  Bashan  canopies, 
Enrich  the  waste  with  summer  draperies; 

And  Sharon's  excellence,  her  pasture  green, 
Where  the  ox  battens  on  the  clover  leas, 

And  camels  browse  the  climbing  caper-bean, 

On  tawny  moss  shall  be,  and  spongy  marish  seen. 

xxxix. 

Now  rises  in  the  Temple's  ground  a  spring, 
And  flows  to  either  sea,  and-  on  its  bank 

Are  virent  groves,  which  at  all  seasons  bring 
Forth  their  new  clusters,  in  luxuriance  rank, 
Sabean  balsam  bearing,  that  who  drank 

Forthwith  were  cured  of  the  sore  moil  of  care, 
And  never  back  to  nocent  error  sank; 

For  healing  of  the  nations  everywhere, 

Whose  leaves  shall  never  fade,  but  fresh  forever  are. 


THE  MILLENNIUM. 


The  same  tree  once  within  the  garden  grew 
Of  Eden,  ere  the  Serpent  there  was  seen, 

Whose  branches  bourgeon  with  corollas  blue, 
Apples  of  gold,  and  foliage  always  green, 
Of  the  whole  sylvan  nymphs  the  stately  queen ; 

And  whose  taste  immortality  imparted 

To  all  who  dared  to  eat;  and  had  Eve  been 

Less  vain  and  credulous,  and  bolder  hearted, 

With  life  that  never  dies  she  might  have  never  parted. 

XLI. 
The  virtue  of  the  river  that  runs  east 

The  sickness  purges  of  the  salt  Dead  Sea, 
And  life  its  tide  ferments  like  boiling  yeast; 
Where'er  its  waves  touch,  an  infinity 

Of  finned  and  scaly  tribes  are  found  to  be; 
And  fishermen  now  stand  on  En-eglaim, 

Along  the  coast  as  far  as  En-gedi, 
And  spread  their  nets  where  erst  Death's  hideous  name 
Divulged  the  curse  of  God,  and  man's  opprobrious 
shame. 

•  XLII. 

Throughout  the  earth  the  effulgence  of  the  moon 
Is  bright  as  musky  moss-rose  summer's  sun, 

And  the  sun's  lustre  as  seven  suns  in  June, 
Their  melted  bullion  clarified  to  one 
Metallic  splendor  the  whole  world  upon; 

Yet  are  the  luminaries  put  to  shame, 
And  dim  before  the  glory  of  God's  Son, 

Whose  sceptre  in  his  Father's  Holy  Name 

Rules  Zion,  that  needs  not  the  moon's  light,  nor  sun's 
flame. 


1 64  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

XLIII. 

When  man  was  savage,  if  the  thunder  growled 

He  hid  his  face  in  dust,  and  thought  the  fire 
An  angry  god,  who  for  a  victim  howled, 

And  sacrificed  his  first-born  on  the  pyre; 

For  ignorance  of  cruelty  is  sire. 
Then  slave  of  all  the  elements;  but  now 

Become  their  master,  they  at  his  desire 
Serve  his  best  needs,  and  to  his  orders  bow, 
And  Hermes'  peristrephic  rod  on  him  bestow. 

XLIV. 
For  knowledge  he  has  gained,  and  knowledge  is 

Not  only  power,  but  virtue,  love,  and  joy; 
And.  perfect  science  is  but  perfect  bliss, 

Since  God  is  wisdom.     Till  his  mental  eye 

Be  oped,  man  is  a  child  of  misery; 
A  pupil  at  great  Nature's  normal  school, 

The  heart  but  acts  just  as  'the  soul  doth  see ; 
If  unenlightened,  he's  a  knave  or  fool ! 
But  if  the  vision's  clear,  he's  good  and  beautiful ! 

XLV. 

A  league  of  friendship  binds  the  beasts :  the  Lord 

Will  break  the  murderous  gun,  and  shaft,  and  bo\v 
To  plowshares  beaten  is  the  rusty  sword, 

Nor  fears  the  timid  brute  his  ravenous  foe; 

The  grizzly  bear  .shall  feed  beside  the  cow, 
No  mOre  the  wolf  the  gentle  lambkin  slay, 

The  leopard  round  the  kid  shall  but  and  bow, 
And  a  boy  with  a  string  of  flowers  in  play 
The  calf  and  lion  yoked  together  lead  away. 


THE  MILLENNIUM.  165 

XLVI. 

A  weanling  babe  shall  of  the  tiger  make 

His  merry  playmate,  and  its  brinded  neck 
Pet  and  caress,  and  no  harm  from  him  take, 

And  it  shall  come  and  frolic  at  his  beck; 

Hawks  at  the  bread  crumbs  in  his  hands  shall  peck; 
For  Peace  his  ordinance  on  them  hath  laid, 

That  they  should  love  each  other  for  love's  sake; 
No  more  the  adder,  springing  from  his  bed 
Of  flowers,  stings  man's  heel,  man's  seed  has  crushed 
his  head. 

XLVII. 

With  his  disciples  Jesus  breaks  the  bread, 

And  drinks  the  wine,  as  he  had  promised  them 

That,  in  his  Kingdom,  after  he  were  dead, 
Together  they  should  feast:  Jerusalem 
Rejoices,  and  her  scribes  no  more  condemn 

The  pilot  who  the  human  soul  through  death 
Had  to  its  haven  steered  with  guiding  helm; 

The  first  of  men  who  had  breathed  undying  breath, 

And  worn  Life's  golden  crown,  and  everlasting  wreath. 

XLVIII. 

And  living  men  then  angels'  food  partake, 

The  bread,  by  sin  unleavened,  from  the  Tree 
Of  Life  Eternal,  and  the  dead  awake 

Banquet  on  manna,  and  delighted  see 

The  pomp  inordinate  of  majesty 
In  nature  round  them ;  and  their  voices  raise 

In  honor  of  the  Lamb  the  melody 


1 66  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

Of  sounds  flute-tongued,  and  bold,  heroic  lays 
On  Zion's  walls  "Salvation,"  and  her  portals  "Praise. 

XLIX. 

And  as  they  pray  responsive  Love  shall  come 
Before  they  call  him,  and  their  prayers  will  hear 

While  yet  they  speak  them;  overhead  the  dome 
Reflecting  as  a  glass  through  lucent  air 
The  happy  face  of  Paradise,  that  Care 

Laughs  like  a  heart  at  ease;  and  man  shall  then 
Be  reinstated  in  the  image  fair 

Of  Eden's  innocence,  a  denizen 

Of  earth,  to  be  enrolled  in  Heaven  a  citizen. 

L. 
The  inhabitants  of  sinless  earth  will  be 

With  Heaven's  guileless  tenants  reconciled, 
And  all  things  gathered  in  an  unity 

Under  the  Son  of  God;  then  men  who  died, 

But  now  are  living,  shall  sit  side  by  side 
With  men  who  never  died,  and  ne'er  will  die; 

Not  in  ideal  vision  glorified, 
But  in  the  fullness  of  reality, 
And  dwell  together  in  harmonious  amity. 


THE  FEAST   OF  LOVE. 


CANTO    IX. 


HE  annual  Feast  of  Love  was  close  at  hand, 
The  chief  of  the  Millennial  Festivals, 
And  pilgrim  devotees  from  every  land 
In  hood  and  baldrick  flocked  to  Salem's  walls; 
And  kings,  and  priests,  and  sages  filled  her  halls, 
Come  to  descry  the  glory  of  the  Lord, 

And  worship  at  His  Temple.     Booths  and  stalls, 
Tents,  lodges,  wigwams  hold  the  mingled  horde, 
And  wen  and  wart  the  hills,  and  tubercle  the  sward. 

ii. 

The  paths  and  by-ways  round  Jerusalem 

Are  diapered  with  throngs;  the  city's  streets, 

And  lanes  and  alleys  that  the  suburbs  hem, 

Broidered  with  numbers;  here  the  Caffir  meets 
The  Scandinavian,  the  Peruvian  greets 

The  sombre  Spaniard  or  the  swarthy  Moor; 
To  nooks  remote  the  bustling  crowd  retreats, 

To  gardens,  orchards,  vineyards  on  they  pour, 

For  all  the  burghs  are  full,  and  can  contain  no  more. 


1 68  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

III. 
The  road  from  Joppa  is  a  moving  march 

Of  camels,  mules,  and  horses,  jingling  bells 
Inscribed  with  "  Holiness,"  in  eager  search 

Of  the  pure  Spring  of  Life  in  Zion's  wells, 

Whose  flood  the  Fountain  of  Jouvence  excels; 
The  harbor  with  its  bristling  anchored  fleet 

Appears  alive  with  masts,  and  spars,  and  sails, 
And  boats  with  loads  of  passengers  replete, 
Who  press  the  shore  to  tread  with  reverential  feet. 


And  in  the  sandy  cove  a  motley  crew 

Is  gathered;  some  prostrated  on  their  knees 
On  the  bare  rock,  to  thank  the  Lord  anew 

For  their  deliverance  from  the  stormy  seas, 

Ejaculating  texts  from  homilies; 
While  others  that  the  Holy  Land  they  see, 

Enraptured,  tell  their  beaded  rosaries, 
Or  chant  a  canticle  with  pious  glee, 
Or  prayer  recite  from  some  canonic  liturgy. 

v. 

Hail  hallowed  spot!  the  Home  of  Charity! 
Here  Dorcas  dwelt,  and  spun,  and  wove,  and 

sewed, 
And  toiled,  and  prayed,  that  clothed  the  nude  might 

be, 

The  hungry  filled,  then  died  by  sickness  bowed, 
And  rosemary  is  scattered  on  her  shroud. 
Orphans  of  sorrow,  martyrs  of  distress ! 

She  is  not  dead :  the  love  that  in  her  glowed 


THE  FEAST  OF  LOVE.  169 

Still  burns  to  solace  human  wretchedness, 

And  Dorcas  lives  again  the  sick  and  poor  to  bless. 

VI. 

The  eve  before  this  splendrous  festival, 
Under  the  umbrage  cool  of  stately  palms, 

And  cedar's  awning,  whence  around  were  tall 
Trellised  alcoves,  sun-proof,  and  leafy  holms, 
Imbrowned  by  autumn's  aromatic  balms, 

Sat  Methulah,  with  Adoram  and  a  young 
Neophyte,  where  the  Master  mid  alarms, 

When  living  in  the  flesh,  had  passed  that  long 

Night  of  cold  bloody  sweats,  in  spite  of  suffering 
strong. 

VII. 

The  winds  had  bid  "good  night,"  and  gone  to  sleep, 
And  all  was  hushed,  except  the  drowsy  hum 

Of  some  swinkt  thrifty  bees,  that  in  the  deep 
Brugmansia's  bells  the  floury  pollen  scum, 
The  last  load  of  their  honeyed  harvest  home; 

And  now  they're  silent.     Past  the  Kedron's  rill, 
Where  the  gilt  pinnacles  of  the  Temple  loom, 

A  glimpse  of  white-frocked  boys  the  altars  fill 

With  guirlandes,  and  the  lamps  light  round  Moriah's 
Hill. 

VIII. 

In  hoar-frost  moonshine  swims  the  camphire  grove  ; 
What  seems  an  aftermath  of  snowy  bloom 

The  almond  glitters;  glancing  sparkles  move 
Along  the  carob's  edge,  and  mount  to  illume 
Their  heads  with  crowns  of  diamonds;  where 
through  gloom 


170  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

Of  massive  foliage  vistas  open,  there 

On  feathery  tamarisks  and  sprigs  of  broom 
Festoons  of  lustres  hang,  and  starlets  glare 
Thick  on  the  melia  spray,  and  silver  buds  appear. 

IX. 

"  How  perfect  is  the  calm!     Not  the  least  breath 
Trembles  a  leaf  of  all  the  trees  around, 

The  air  is  still  as  is  a  dream  in  death, 

Yet  how  much  joy  doth  everywhere  abound, 
And  how  much  life  in  every  atom  's  found; 

Almost  the  rock-rose  opening  might  be  heard, 
Or  petal  dropping  on  the  dusty  ground ; 

Dumb  is  the  insect,  reptile,  and  the  bird, 

Yet  animated  seems  the  sky,  with  voices  stirred." 

x. 

So  spake  the  acolyte,  and  his  Teacher  thus: 

"  The  life  pulsating  of  infinity ! 
Yes,  from  those  realms  transcendent  speak  to  us 

Ethereal  voices;  the  illimitable  sky 

Is  full  of  all  blest  things  that  cannot  die: 
That  truth,  repeated  by  innumerous  lungs, 

Is  shouted  from  the  sumless  orbs  on  high 
In  sweet  communion  by  aerial  tongues, 
Viewless,  and  unrevealed,  but  by  responsive  songs. 

XI. 

"  Where'er  there  space  God's  ministers  are  there; 

And  often  when  ye  think  it  is  the  wind, 
Soft  footsteps  printless  tread  the  velvet  air, 

On  countless  missions  sent  to  serve  mankind; 


THE  FEAS T  OF  LOVE.  171 

The  elements  to  loosen  or  to  bind ; 
To  seek  the  prisoner  in  his  dark  abode, 

Perhaps  some  lost  sheep  mid  the  goats  to  find, 
Or  through  the  constellations  pave  the  road, 
By  which  blest  saints  may  ride  triumphant  to  their 
God." 

XII. 

"  How  silently  the  stars  steal  out  to  shine!" 
Remarked  the  Rabbi.   "  Yet  how  brightly  glow 

Their  tapers  through  the  windowed  hyaline 
Of  Heaven's  homes,  that  on  the  earth  below 
The  mansions  men  may  see  where  they  shall  go;" 

The  priest  replied :  "The  lighted  lamps  await 
The  anniversary  of  some  festal  show, 

Such  as  with  welcome  will  illuminate 

All  who  have  ever  lived  in  love  regenerate." 

XIII. 

"  As  in  that  '  Holy  of  Holies'  in  the  sky, 
The  focus  of  effulgence,  where  the  light 

Is  manifested  of  the  Lord  on  high, 
Where  thick  as  star- waves  angel  troops  alight 
To  worship  and  to  praise  Him  with  delight, 

Thousands  of  thousands,  and  ten  thousand  times 
Ten  thousand  thousands  more,  before  His  sight; 

So  on  the  earth  from  the  remotest  climes, 

Shall  nations  come  to  hear  sweet  Zion's  joy-bell 
chimes." 

XIV. 

"For  Salem's  Temple  is  earth's  central  shrine! 
And  as  in  Heaven  nothing  lives  but  love, 


172  TIME  AND  ETERNITY, 

And  nothing  dies  but  death;  so  no  more  pine 
Hearts  human  here;  nor  seeks  the  soul  to  rove 
From  duty,  lest  the  Serpent  scare  the  Dove: 

Hence  sorrow  is  ignored,  and  dole  forgotten, 
And  life's  light  trials  easy  burdens  prove; 

.  No  body  can  decay  that  was  begotten, 

No  longer  baits  the  worm  on  flesh  corrupt  and  rotten.' 

xv. 

"We  drink  the  elixir  of  celestial  rain, 

That  from  the  nursing  bosom  of  the  cloud 

Falls  on  the  herb  as  milk,  on  grass  as  grain; 
Our  frugal  table  fruits  and  cereals  crowd, 
But  no  beast  is  purveyor  now  of  food ; 

No  cannibalic  hand  whets  the  keen  knife, 

No  maw  carnivorous  sheds  the  victim's  blood; 

The  sacrament  of  love  hallows  all  life, 

And  man  pursues  no  more  the  brute  with  cruel 
strife." 

XVI. 

"  Oh!  blessed  are  the  kind  and  meek,  for  theirs 

Are  earth  and  Heaven;  and  they  shall  surely  see 
The  face  of  Love  parental,  who  their  prayers 

Will  hear  with  favor!     Learn  what  ye  will  be 

Glad  to  remember  in  eternity; 
For  ye  shall  only  carry  hence  away 

Your  virtues  with  you.     Pride  of  science  flee, 
Learn  wisdom  with  thy  heart  that  they  may  say, 
Who  thy  demeanor  view,  'there  shines  the  Light  of 
Day.'  " 


THE  FEAS T  OF  LOVE.  173 

XVII. 

"  E'en  as  the  music  of  an  instrument 
Tells  what  it  is,  and  as  a  flower  is  known 

By  the  sweet  subtle  breathing  of  its  scent, 
So  by  thy  manners  let  thy  mind  be  shown, 
The  sterling  mintage  stamp  the  die  sinks  on: 

But  if  thy  thoughts  be  dark,  thine  actions  foul, 
As  in  the  limbec  gold  is  drawn  from  stone, 

So  prayer  and  penitence  from  out  thy  soul 

Can  drain  thy  flinty  heart,  and  leave  thee  pure  and 
whole." 

XVIII. 

"  Morphean  hop  and  poppy  that  seduce 
The  sense  entranced,  defiling  nicotine, 

Nor  staff  of  life  sublimed  to  deadly  juice 
That  stultifies  or  maddens,  shall  be  thine, 
But  the  clear  hippocrene,  almost  divine, 

Of  knowledge,  and  the  ominnisol  of  dew, 
In  which  the  elements  transpicuous  shine, 

Filtered  of  sin  and  folly,  dropping  through 

The  clouds  from  crystal  fountains  in  the  ether  blue." 

XIX. 

Thus  preached  the  aged  hierarch  to  his  friends, 

Softening  in  social  intercourse  the  tone 
Of  ethic  grandeur;  then  his  hands  he  bends 

In  supplication  to  the  sapphire  throne. 

With  sudden  light  the  living  silence  shone, 
With  angel  tenants  teemed  the  tents  of  air,' 

A  field  of  gold  striped  with  vermilion, 


174  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

Whence  couriers  ministrant  succinct  appear, 
Wardens  to  watch  the  earth,  and  guardian  missions 
bear. 


Weird  music  sounded  their  approach,  as  soft 

As  the  piano  of  the  she-oak  groves, 
When  through  the  lattice  of  their  boles  aloft 

The  faint  breeze  scarce  the  leafy  curtain  moves; 

Soft  as  the  secret  sigh  that  fondly  loves; 
Soft  as  on  infant's  lip  the  whispers  creep, 

Dreaming  of  Eden  and  elysian  doves; 
Soft  as  the  prayers  of  hope  that  for  joy  weep, 
As  its  own  mother  watches  that  child  smile  in  sleep. 

XXI. 

The  canopy  of  Heaven's  nocturnal  shade 
Envelops  all  things,  all  except  the  site 

Where  the  domed  Temple  lifts  its  golden  head, 
Whence  shoots  aloft  from  penciled  plinth  of  light 
An  obelisk  that  glows  with  beryl  bright; 

But  now  it's  paling  in  the  rising  dawn, 

And  turns  a  pearl  crepuscule,  neither  night 

Nor  day,  but  mingled  bloom  of  both,  to  adorn 

The  Sanctuary,  and  shield  it  from  the  ardent  morn. 

XXII. 

Now  from  all  points  their  eager  steps  direct, 

Holding  palm  leaves,  the  crowd  towards  the  fane, 

And  at  their  head,  with  conscious  worth  erect, 
Walks  the  Messiah,  by  his  glorious  train 
Attended  of  the  Apostles  twelve,  who  reign 


THE  FEAST  OF  LO  VE.  \ 75 

Each  o'er  a  tribe  set  up  of  Israel; 

Who  their  estate  on  high  did  not  disdain 
To  leave,  that  they  might  with  their  Master  dwell, 
And  who  the   pomp  august  with  god-like  grandeur 
swell. 

XXIII. 

Ambassadors  were  there  from  barbarous  states, 
Magnificoes  from  territories  renowned 

For  arts  and  learning,  thrones  and  potentates, 
Who  had  their  way  from  Plata's  pampas  found, 
And  Venezuelan  llanos,  hither  bound, 

And  Patagonia's  Emim  multitude; 

And  orders  intellectual  trod  the  ground, 

Degrees  ethereal,  with  the  wise  and  good, 

And  for  earth's  peace  exchange  Heaven's  bright 
beatitude. 

XXIV. 

The  cortege  has  approached  the  outer  wall, 
Built  of  dsedalic  blocks  of  marble  white, 

And  reached  the  portal,  whence  from  pillars  fall 
Festoons  of  vines  enamelled;  and  alight 
Within  the  vestibule,  when  on  their  sight 

Bursts  the  pavilioned  tabernacle,  with  dome 
Perched  high  in  air,  as  it  were  taking  flight, 

And  in  a  dream  of  clouds  about  to  roam, 

Among  the  twinkling  stars  to  find  its  native  home. 

XXV. 

What  piles  immense  of  masonry  are  here  ? 

What  stones  enormous  ?  and  what  columns  high, 
Yet  elegant  and  slender,  that  uprear 
10 


176  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

The  alabaster  spire  'gainst  the  blue  sky  ? 

Scarce  can  the  doves  up  to  its  summit  fly: 
Piazzas  niched  and  fretted  run  around 

The  courts  elaborate,  where  fountains  ply; 
Long  aerial  nights  of  steps  rise  from  the  ground; 
And  an  embellished  porch  of  granite  lifts  the  mound. 

XXVI. 

Through  an  arched  gateway  to  the  inner  court 
They  pass,  and  come  to  where  the  inner  shrine 

Is  screened  by  veils  of  purfled  linen  wrought; 
They're  drawn  aside,  and  rays  resplendent  shine, 
His  head  illumining  with  light  divine, 

As  the  Messiah  enters,  in  whose  face 
A  lofty  dignity  with  peace  benign 

Attempered  glows,  and  love  with  perfect  grace, 

While  thus  a  voice  proclaims  from  out  the  Holy  Place : 

XXVII. 

"  This  is  my  Son  beloved,  in  whom  I'm  pleased ! 

The  earthly  of  My  Heavenly,  hear  ye  him ! " 
Deep  thunders  answered  when  the  accents  ceased, 

And  scintillating  swords  of  Cherubim 

Waved  in  the  flame,  and  made  the  vision  dim. 
A  silence  followed,  by  carillons  broke, 

Harmonious  concords  of  a  distant  hymn, 
Inimitably  sweet,  when  the  audience  woke 
From  out  ecstatic  dreams,  as  thus  Emanuel  spoke : 

XXVIII. 

"Abba!  I  thank  Thee  that  Thou  'st  testified 
I  am  Thy  Son  approved,  and  given  me  power 


THE  FEAS T  OF  LOVE.  1 77 

That  on  my  saints  and  martyrs,  sanctified 
By  tribulations,  I  may  blessings  shower, 
And  them  with  gear  of  plenteous  wisdom  dower; 

Me  with  the  honor,  which  I  held  with  Thee 
Ere  Death  was  born,  or  from  creation's  shore 

The  fleets  of  human  souls  sailed  through  the  sky, 

Endow,  that  I  may  rayon  Thy  Divinity.'"' 


"Thy  Name  I've  manifested  to  the  men 

Whom  Thou  didst  grant  me.  ,  Thine  they  were, 
and  they 

Have  kept  Thy  word.     O  do  Thou  keep  them  then 
In  Thine  especial  favor,  that  they  may 
The  marvels  of  Thy  Providence  survey, 

And  love  Thee  grateful,  and  be  wholly  Thine, 
As  I  am  in  Thee !     Be  their  guide  and  way 

To  immortality,  for  who  are  mine 

Are  Thine  in  Truth,  the  Comforter,  and   Peace 
divine." 


"  Wherever  in  Thy  Kingdom  I  may  be, 
I  pray,  in  Thine  immeasurable  grace, 

That  Thou  wilt  deign  to  let  them  be  with  me, 
That  Thy  reflected  image  they  may  trace, 
As  in  a  mirror,  shadowed  in  my  face, 

And  be  enlightened  by  me,  as  I  am 
By  Thee  transfigured,  be  in  us  always; 

Nor  let  their  trust  in  me  be  put  to  shame, 

But  hear  their  pleading  voice  when  they  pronounce 
my  name." 


178  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

XXXI. 

"  Within  the  realms  of  Paradise  above 

Are  many  mansions.     Thither  I  have  been 

Seats  to  prepare  for  you,  where  reigneth  Love 
Ineffable,  and  Joy,  her  handmaid,  's  seen 
With  lilies'  star  beams  and  with  amaranths  green 

Circling  the  brows  of  saints;  and  I  am  come 
Back  to  receive  you,  and  present  you  clean 

And  faultless  to  my  Father  in  His  Home 

Above  the  vaulted  roof  of  the  siderial  dome." 

XXXII. 

"  He  hath  appointed  me  Lord  of  all  things, 
And  me  invested  with  earth's  sovereign  crown ; 

To  me  the  charter  he  conveyed  that  brings 
Eternal  happiness,  where  round  His  Throne 
Ascend  in  clouds  of  balm  and  cinnamon 

The  prayers  of  saints;  and  to  all  who  believe 
Him  to  be  God,  and  me  His  chosen  Son, 

Whatever  flesh  that  lives  or  may  yet  live, 

His  precious  gift  to  me  of  life  I  freely  give." 

XXXIII. 

"  Let  every  creature  the  Creator  praise! 

From  mammoth  to  the  mite,  whatever  thrills 
With  sense  or  understanding,  to  Him  raise 

'  Te  Deums'  gratulant !     Ye  lakes  and  rills, 

Laud  Him  whose  whisper  your  soft  murmur  stills! 
Laud  Him,  whose  breath,  O  sea,  thy  wrath  excites ! 

Laud  Him,  ye  quiet  combes  and  storm-clad  hills, 
When  His  red  thunderbolt  your  forest  smites, 
Or  when  His  sun -winged  shower  upon  your  field 
alights!  " 


THE  FEA ST  OF  LOVE. 

xxxiv. 
"  Laud  Him,  O  Ardors,  who  His  lamps  attend, 

From  Heaven's  ceiling  hung  in  golden  air! 
Ye  sceptred  sons  of  morn,  who  lowly  bend 

Before  his  footstool !  spirits  everywhere, 

That  execute  his  mandates,  Him  declare 
The  Inexpressible  in  majesty, 

The  Inscrutable  in  goodness,  whose  prime  care 
Is  favored  man!     Then  man  Him  magnify, 
And,  building  steps  with  prayer,  scale  to  the  peace  on 
High." 

XXXV. 

Thus  prayed  the  Rose  of  Sharon  to  his  Sire, 
While  knelt  the  crowd  in  adoration  mute; 

Nor  were  the  Muses  of  the  spheral  choir 
Silent,  but  Him  whose  power  is  absolute 
Adored,  but  mercy  His  chief  attribute; 

And  distant  galaxies  the  burden  heard. 
Then  dulcet  symphonies  of  harp  and  lute, 

And  voices  blest,  first  Heaven's  grace  implored, 

And  then  this  paean  raised  to  celebrate  their  Lord : 

xxxvi. 

"  Daughter  of  Zion!  shout  for  joy  and  sing! 

Rejoice  with  all  thy  heart,  Jerusalem ! 
For  in  thy  midst  is  thy  Messiah  King, 

Life  of  our  hope,  beneficent  to  them 

Who  him  reviled  with  contumelious  shame; 
The  mighty  Counselor  and  Prince  of  Peace, 

Exalted  now  above  terrestrial  fame, 
Before  whose  presence  strife  and  warfare  cease, 
And  of  whose  kingdom  there  shall  always  be  increase." 


i8o  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

XXXVII. 

"  He's  come,  who  was  the  fond  desire  of  all, 
Whom  all  with  eyes  of  love  admiring  view; 

No  evil  hence  shall,  Israel,  on  thee  fall, 
For  he  shall  be  to  thee  as  Hermon's  dew 
Dropping  on  pastures  green  from  heavens  blue; 

The  grass  shall  spring,  the  tender  fig  tree  blow, 
Her  tendril  spread  the  vine  where  brambles  grew 

With  milk  and  hydromel  the  mountains  flow, 

And  with  the  oil  of  gladness  valleys  melt  below."- 


"  Now  follows  on  the  plow  the  reaper  blithe, 
The  ripening  fruit  o'ertakes  the  sprouting  seed, 

The  grain  is  scarcely  sown,  ere  by  the  scythe 
It's  cut  for  bread  corn  in  the  fertile  mead, 
Where  no  more  flourishes  the  noxious  weed : 

Under  the  shadow  of  the  sycamore 

We  dwell  in  safety,  and  the  warbling  reed 

Shall  Him  extol  who  fills  our  ample  store 

With  living  bread  and  wine,  our  strength  for  ever- 
more." 

xxxix. 

"  Israel  exult!     He  has  set  up  his  throne 
In  David's  city,  there  in  peace  to  reign, 

And  all  who  pass  her  portals  are  his  own, 

No  longer  strangers:  mourning,  grief  and  pain 
He  soothes  with  sympathy  that  none  complain; 

The  sick  and  helpless  none  dare  now  distress; 
The  widow's  chattels  none  dare  now  distrain, 

Nor  is  the  orphan  now  left  comfortless, 

But  all  the  sons  of  men  his  loving  kindness  bless." 


THE  FEAST  OF  LOVE.  181 

XL. 

"A  Temple  he  has  founded,  and  he  is 

High  priest  thereof,  to  offer  sacrifice, 
And  make  atonement  for  our  deeds  amiss, 

Sealing  our  pardon  for  delinquent  lies, 

For  deathful  errors  and  iniquities. 
O,  be  exceeding  glad,  for  he  is  come 

To  rule  on  earth,  as  in  elysian  skies 
His  Father  rules,  where  pleasures  vernal  bloom, 
And  where  he  hath  for  us  prepared  our  final  home." 

XLI. 

"A  careful  shepherd,  thou  dost  feed  thy  flock, 
And  lead  them  by  the  hyacinthine  rill, 

Under  the  shelter  of  the  shadowing  rock; 

Thou  gatherest  with  thine  arm  the  lamb  that's  ill, 
And  warm'st  it  in  thy  breast  its  cries  to  still, 

And  gently  lead'st  the  ewe  that's  big  with  young. 
How  beautiful  the  feet  upon  the  hill 

Of  him  who  brings  good  tidings,  and  whose  tongue 

Salvation  publishes  to  Zion  in  sweet  song! " 

XLII. 

"  Eyes  to  the  blind  thou  wast,  feet  to  the  lame, 
A  father  to  the  poor,  and  to  the  weak 

A  nursing  mother;  by  thy  holy  name 

The  deaf  were  taught  to  hear,  the  dumb  to  speak, 
The  halt  to  walk,  the  buried  dead  to  wake; 

Light  of  the  world,  laid  under  darkness'  ban, 
Thou  art  the  lucent  Virtue  whom  we  seek ! 

Prolific  of  all  good  from  God  to  man, 

The  archetype  of  thine  own  good  Samaritan." 


182  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

XLIII. 

Soft  o'er  the  pillared  fane  the  twilight  fell, 

Serene  and  mellow,  drenched  by  golden  haze, 

As  lulled  the  descant,  with  the  organ's  swell 
Toning  "Amen"  in  varied  notes  of  praise: 
The  congregation  rise,  and  upward  raise 

Their  looks,  when  in  a  molten  jasper  sea 
They  on  a  blissful  revelation  gaze, 

Radiant  with  light  and  pageant  jubilee, 

While  kindling  clouds  are  fused  in  Heaven's  alchemy 

XLIV. 

T' wards  the  four  quarters  of  the  compass  wave 
Four  priests  ripe  fruits  and  leafy  branches  green, 

To  give  thanks  to  Him  who  these  to  them  gave; 
Then  the  whole  city  in  a  blaze  is  seen, 
Of  scattered  flowers  and  painted  lantern's  sheen, 

And  fountain  jets  of  the  electric  light, 

Apparent  sunshine  throwing  on  the  scene; 

And  in  the  Temple's  outer  court  a  bright 

Band  of  young  maidens  dance  with  torches  in  the 
night. 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  EARTH. 


CANTO     X. 


O  live  the  Saints  with  their  Messiah  Lord 

During  a  thousand  years,  till  the  whole  earth, 
Mortgaged  by  Sin,  and  forfeit,  is  restored. 
And  fruits  again  spontaneously  brings  forth, 
And  men,  progressing  through  a  second  birth, 
Developed  into  angels.     Now  had  come 

The  Heavenly  Kingdom;  Truth  had  come,  and 

worth 

Blameless,  and  piety;  but,  tragic  doom! 
Christmas  must  be  buried  to  rise  from  Easter's  tomb. 


In  Eden  crept  the  Snake,  and  Innocence, 

Flattered  and  duped  by  fraud,  fell  into  crime; 
The  primal  world  was  scored  by  violence, 

Whence  merged  the  Deluge,  with  its  floods 
sublime, 

To  wash  away  the  filth  of  human  slime; 
The  patriarch's  rule  closed  in  idolatry, 

The  Law  mosaic  in  routine  and  rhyme, 
In  war  the  gospel  and  apostasy, 
And  the  Millennium's  epilogue  is  misery. 


1 84  TIME  AND  ETERNITY, 

III. 
But  blissful  Innocence,  that  never  knew 

What  evil  was,  was  warned  in  Eden's  bowers; 
And  Pride  admonished  it  would  dearly  rue 
Its  wicked  acts,  before  the  vengeful  hours 
Had  come,  when  poured  the  desolating  showers 
From  Heaven's  fountains,  and  the  tides  arose 
From  ocean's  springs,  and  drowned  the  city's 

towers, 

Sea-cliffs  and  inland  peaks,  and  dreadful  woes 
O'erwhelmed  the  world,  adjudged  to  death's  preco- 
cious throes. 

IV. 

Rebuked  was  Sodom,  but  its  habitants 

The  reprimand  contemned,  and  treated  Lot 

As  simpleton  who  raves,  or  fool  who  rants, 
And  while  they  rudely  rioted  were  caught 
In  flames  incumbent,  and  the  hosting  shot 

Of  boulders  darted  from  the  abyss  of  Hell; 

"  Watchman,  what  of  the  night  ?"     Proud  Salem 
got 

Her  reprehension;  yet  minded  not  the  knell, 

When  her  last  prophet  came  her  Temple's  ruin  to 
tell. 

v. 

But  not  a  weather-seer  a  telegram 

Of  storm  now  sent,  but  all  was  still  and  calm : 

Nor  need  the  saints  a  warder  to  proclaim 
The  imminence  of  danger,  and  alarm 
Friendly  disciples,  and  the  nations  arm. 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  EARTH,  185 

Ah !  can  it  be  where  brother  masons  dwell 

The  burglar  strife  can  enter  peace  to  harm ! 
In  God's  own  presence  e'en  the  angels  fell, 
Who  could  to  carnal  flesh  then  ring  the  tocsin  bell  ? 

VI. 

The  sun  that  giveth  alms  of  heat  and  light; 

The  planets,  moons,  and  comets,  stars,  and  skies 
Are  marvels  beyond  feeble  words  to  write; 

More  wondrous  are  the  hidden  mysteries 

Of  life  and  death,  and  why  existence  is! 
But  use  disowns  the  marvelous.     Israel  saw 

The  wilderness  with  daily  manna  freeze, 
Yet  looked  not  on  it  long  with  serious  awe ; 
The  guiding  cloud  and  fire  were  merely  natural  law ! 

VII. 

So  now  men  question  Sanctitude,  unmoved, 
And  on  the  face  of  Virtue  freely  gaze, 

Inviolably  glorious,  unreproved, 

And  unabashed  with  fear  or  with  amaze, 
As  if  celestial  Grace  had  been  always 

A  flower  fossilized.     While  those  who  were 
Living  in  reindeer  fiords  and  narwhal  bays, 

In  scorpion  sands  and  snaky  syrtes,  where 

The  Locust  King  had  reigned,  his  hated  power 
forswear, 

VIII. 

"What  right  have  gnomes  and  fetches  us  to  rule  ? 

What  need  have  we  of  warlocks  to  come  down 
From  other  spheres,  on  earth  to  set  up  school, 

And  teach  us  magic?     Why  should  we  Christ  own 


185  TIME  AND  ETERNITY, 

Our  master  ?  why  respect  each  crazy  clown  ? 
We  too  ambitious  are  and  quite  as  fit, 

As  his  apostle  dolts,  to  wear  a  crown, 
And  hold  a  sceptre,  and  on  thrones  to  sit, 
And  nations  just  as  well  might  kneel  before  our  feet." 

IX. 

Such  was  the  language  of  their  discontent 
And  disobedience,  when  in  Hell  awoke 

Satan  from  sleep,  and  found  his  shackles  rent, 
And  the  bars  bolted  of  his  prison  broke : 
Astonished,  he  recoiled,  as  if  a  stroke 

Of  lightning  hurled  had  pierced  his  gnarled  heart: 
"  Is  it  a  dream  ?  "     Thus  the  arch-fiend  spoke; 

"  These  are  the  rivet  links,  now  torn  apart, 

That   pinioned    tight   my  limbs  in   knotted  meshes 
swart." 


"  This  chain  of  triple  adamant,  red  hot, 
That  charred  my  vitals,  eating  to  my  heart 

With  pain  insufferable,  that  incessant  shot 
Through  every  nerve,  and  muzzled  every  part, 
With  death  benumbed.     But  what  this  body's  smart 

To  the  sore  rankling  in  my  envious  soul  ? 
There  sharper  than  the  sharpest  tortures  dart 

The  stings  of  shame,  which  I  must  passive  thole; 

For  thought  of  Heaven  lost  is  Hell's  most  poignant 
dole." 

XI. 

"  Yet  in  my  slumber  felt  I  not  a  touch, 
Nor  heard  the  slightest  syllable  of  sound — 


DES  TR  UC  TION  OF  THE  EAR  TH.  187 

Were  this  but  true,  and  could  my  senses  vouch 
My  fancies  do  not  cheat  me:  yet  around 
The  fires  have  slackened  in  the  deep  profound, 

And  the  redundant  rollers  ceased  to  swell: 
And  now  that  manacles  are  no  more  bound 

Around  me,  here  no  longer  will  I  dwell, 

But  wend  my  way  to  earth,  to  make  that  earth  a  Hell." 

XII. 

"To  me,  exiled  from  Paradise,  remains 

This  comfort  in  affliction — to  destroy! 
And  man  a  partner  in  my  dolorous  pains 

To  circumvent  with  hopes  that  are  a  lie, 

And  his  alliance  with  deceit  to  buy : 
Urged  on  by  desperate  hate  and  envy  of  Heaven, 

And  scorn  of  earth,  my  compensating  joy 
Is  to  work  so  it  may  to  ruin  be  driven: 
Nor  let  Him  blame  the  deed  by  whom  the  cause  is 
given." 

XIII. 

"  Never  was  seen  the  tide  so  calm  before; 

The  smoke  throws  shadows  on  it,  and  the  ghosts, 
That  on  their  chariot  clouds  of  meteors  soar, 

Reflected  are,  as  night's  bespangled  hosts 

On  the  still  lakes  of  earth.     Scarce  do  the  coasts 
Appear  the  same,  these  cliffs  of  granite  rocks 

Which  sleep  in  fire,  that  sinuous  shore  that  boasts 
Its  reefs  basaltic,  where  no  sea-bird  flocks, 
Nor  shell  nor  sea-weed  's  thrown  by  the  surf's  drum- 
bling  shocks." 


1 88  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

XIV. 

"  For  nothing  lives  within  that  sea  beneath: 
But  millions  live  on  earth  to  be  my  prey, 

Serpentine  spirits  with  immortal  breath, 

Whose  brows  shall  thorns  instead  of  crowns  array, 
Whom  guile  shall  tempt  to  sin,  and  death  dismay. 

And  Thou,  who  sittest  on  Thy  Throne  on  High, 
Beyond  the  confines  of  the  light  of  day, 

In  solitary  bliss  and  majesty, 

Not  unrequited  will  I  pass  thy  malice  by." 

xv. 

So  spake  the  Hell-spite,  by  obdurate  wrath 

Inflamed,  and  inextinguishable  hate, 
That  sought  the  glory  of  the  saints  to  scath, 

And  on  the  wreck  of  Christendom  create 

His  own  dominion;  but  so  had  not  fate 
That  bill  endorsed.     Then  with  a  sullen  scowl 

He  gazed  around  on  regions  desolate, 
On  swamps,  and  bogs,  and  tarns,  black,  fetid,  foul, 
And   shook  his  spinous  wings,  and  whooped  with 
angry  howl. 

XVI. 

The  sound  reverberated  through  the  abyss, 

From  peaks  and  crags,  deep  antres,  and  dark  caves, 

Bellowing  like  thunder,  when  the  red  bolts  hiss 
Over  the  wind-swept  cape,  and  the  storm  raves, 
And  wakes  the  ghosts  that  sleep  in  church  -  yard 
graves. 

The  demons  startle  up,  and  forward  rush 

To  where  their  chief  his  arm  in  triumph  waves, 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  EARTH.  189 

And  as  they  scramble  on,  their  pinions  brush 
The  swirling  flames  and  smoke,  and  crouching  phan- 
toms crush. 

XVII. 

"  The  gates  of  Hades,  shut  a  thousand  years, 
Are  open.     Will  ye  here  supine  remain, 

A  prey  to  eleemosynary  fears, 

Or  will  ye  dare  to  strike  a  blow  to  gain 
Your  pristine  honor,  and  your  lost  domain  ? 

Better  in  arms  forever  to  contend, 

Though  vanquished,  and  in  misery  and  pain, 

Than  here,  divorced  from  joy,  pernicious  spend 

A  vile  existence,  without  hope,  and  without  end.'7 

xvm. 
"  The  way  is  easy,  though  the  voyage  far, 

To  those  who  are  determined  to  be  free; 
Guiding  our  steps  assured  from  star  to  star, 

Through  the  illimitable  profundity, 

We  soon  will  at  the  solar  empire  be, 
Where  the 'earth  is,  where  pride  again  and  hate 

Excite'intemperate  men.     Past  that  blue  sea 
Where  worlds  innumerous  sail  with  living  freight, 
Our  course  is,  where  the  orbs  most  thickly  culminate." 


"Again  with  swarms  of  vipers  has  been  sowed 
Their  fated  soil  broadcast;  and  'tis  my  right 

To  reap  the  crop.     Hostility  I've  vowed, 
Irreconcilable,  inalterable  spite 
Against  this  race  abhorred,  to  sons  of  light 


TIME  ASD  ETERNITY. 

Preferred  thiuugh  envy  of  oar  godlike  powers, 

ar  of  oar  opposing  might, 
pat  forth  his  band  to  pluck  at  flowers, 
And  grasp  bat  thorns,  and  Meed  bH  time's  expiring 


«*  We  wait  thy  wffl  to  lead  05  thither,"  cried 

Kifigal,  neice  god  of  sanguinarv  war: 
«O,  who  a  moment  would  in  Hefl  abide, 

When  its  huge  postern  gaping  stands  ajar, 

Inviting  erit  to  die  fields  afar 
In  space  diffuse.    Indifferent  to  oar  (ate, 

Let  as  be  gone,  lest  Heaven  oar  egress  bar; 
Worse  cannot  tall  than  we  hare  known  of  late, 
Unless  our  Tvrant  choose  as  to  annihilate" 

xn. 

"And  that  would  scarce  be  worse  than  we  hare  borne, 

"-"-"-*-:•-.-;•    ;:. ~_.',r.:.:    --.'.:^    .'..'.<..-.. 
The  hoar  perhaps  will  come  when  we  shall  scorn 

Submission  to  His  proud,  imperioos  mood, 

And  rite  His  Kingdom  to  the  soiitnde 
And  wretchedness  prefacing  here,  the  lot 

Hi*  wrath  assigned  as  lor  oar  former  feod: 
dorioas  the  strife,  thoa^i  Tainlr  then  we  fought! 
Perhaps  with  more  success  we  now  mar  strive  and 


XHL 

The  rebel  synod  loud  defiance  burled, 

And  braggart  taunts,  so  much  the  retrospect 
Of  their  imprisonment  in  their  crude  world 


DESTKVCTION  OF  TOE  EJOLTH,  : 

Of  shadows  feted  them,  while  they  Hide  recked 
That  their  boWenttfp^c  be  irtalwrected; 

And  they  could  not  their  doom  reversed  expect. 
Alms  the  enfeebled  breath  of  sbwes  to  breads 

-_iu.  I,  ••^1If  •!.•_•  - 

(O  SOO*S  HQiOBC  UDBUDL  nBUDCOHHC  U^SttDL 


.--o   :   .:"•-.?  ::  :-.i:?       -;:.  :     >::v.e  -;_>:  :  .-:     :-.  «.--::  .: 
From  ool  the 


Fearing  lest  they  m^ht  widess  be  ensnued. 
And  wheel  in  sadden  jeits,  and  eerie  dut 
With  shrieks  into  the  air;  so  now  depart 
The  derifts  from  the  doleful  mews  of  Hell, 

":.-.".-::-.  -  .;.:>:  :::  :";...  :V.;-L^-:<  f    -:~. 
Their  dens  of  darkness,  dashing  wild  pcflmcU 
Into  the  brink  profound,  mtth  a  ttemendaas  feU. 

scar. 

A  shoreless  ocean,  deep  it  is.  and  dreaur, 
Unvasbed  wnh  %ht  or  heat,  water  or  air, 

A  spumous  slough  of  horror  and  of  four, 
A  Stygian  quicksand,  whither  they  repair, 
With  dreamless  steep  of  sflcDce 


Where  all  things  inteifeed  and  jumbled  are, 
And  no  penumbra,  but  the  cone  of  njgbt 
Overlaps  as  wfch  a  pall  the  Kfefcss  infinite. 


They  fly,  suspended  in  die  xmwning  void, 
Like  slorm-ckiuds  driven  o'er  a  larine  Steep  ; 


192  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

Now  rising,  as  directed  by  their  guide, 
Now  sinking  in  the  hollow  gullies  deep, 
And,  thence  emerging  with  fresh  vigor,  sweep 

The  boiling  pools,  exultant  with  fierce  joy: 

Then  their  closed  phalanx  in  a  wedge  they  keep 

To  pierce  the  comets  thickening  in  the  sky, 

And  archipelagos  of  nebulae  on  high, 

XXVI. 

And*nucleated  orbicles  on  wings 

Of  fire  molecular.     They  scud  away 

Where  dawn  empiric  chiaro  oscuro  flings 
Through  hissing  darkness  as  the  ghost  of  day, 
Shedding  a  faint  phantasmagorial  ray; 

Where  waves  of  chaos  dashed  to  foam  appear 
Luminous,  and  float  as  wisps  of  Milky  Way, 

The  portico  of  light,  and  in  the  drear 

Avernian  gulf  are  hulled,  discomfited  with  fear. 

XXVII. 

At  length,  the  chief  of  stellar  dignities, 

Sirius  they  spy,  and  their  checked  hopes  revive: 
They  spread  their  flight  through  pit-falls  in  the  skies, 

And  warp  their  leaden  vans,  plied  hard  to  arrive 

W^here  liverworts  and  sigillaries  live, 
And  iguanodon  sprawls  on  the  strand; 

And  there  against  the  fucoid  green  scum  strive, 
That  threats  to  founder  and  englut  their  band, 
And  wheresoe'er  they  go,  sackcloth  enswathes  the 
land. 


DES  TR  UC  TION  OF  7 HE  EAR  Til.  1 93 

XXVIII. 

They  pass,  grim  spectres,  as  from  shore  to  sea 
On  earth  the  shadows  of  eclipses  stretch, 

And  hood  the  cope  of  the  infinity 

With  apparitions,  such  as  fright  the  wretch, 
Who  hears  the  banshee  cry,  and  sees  his  fetch 

Stand  on  the  skirts  of  dread  immensities, 
And  shuddering  looks  into  the  mist,  to  catch 

A  glimpse  of  what  awaits  him  in  the  skies, 

Where  awful  secrets  midst  mysterious  glories  rise. 

XXIX. 

They  leave  the  constellations  on  their  way, 

And  the  verge  of  our  astral  cluster  gain, 
Whence  they  the  harl  of  dim  cloud-worlds  survey, 

Plutonic  chaos,  the  Neptunian  main, 

And  Jove's  Olympus;  where  Heaven's  nomades  rein 
Their  steeds  of  fire,  as  on  they  thundering  pace 

To  some  expiring  sun,  to  light  again 
Its  flickering  taper;  thence  away  to  race 
Past  planets  and  their  moons,  where  thought  is  lost 
in  space. 


The  splinters  they  descry  of  that  wrecked  world, 
The  lame  and  crippled  Vulcan  of  the  skies, 

For  some  dark  crime  unnamed  to  ruin  hurled, 
A  waif  of  sin,  that  floating  fire-logged  lies 
Death's  beacon  buoy,  as  through  the  sea  it  flies 

Of  solar  waves  magnetic,  earth's  own  dear 

Brother  of  love !     Oh !  man,  lift  up  thine  eyes ! 

Behold  the  wandering  Hell  of  thine  own  sphere! 

A  little  while,  and  then  the  fate  which  thou  dost  fear ! 


194  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

XXXI. 

Now  they  approach  the  looming  coasts  of  earth, 

And  view  the  continents  of  hail  and  snow, 
The  caves  of  storms  and  chambers  of  the  north; 

The  aerial  gardens  where  the  hoar-frosts  grow, 

And  into  crystal  inflorescense  blow 
From  buds  of  dew;  the  arsenals  of  thunder, 

Where  the  hot  lightnings  in  the  red  forge  glow 
Of  clouds  electric;  and  the  rainbow's  wonder, 
Where  water  globules  light  in  magic  colors  sunder. 

XXXII. 

As  a  flock  falls  of  shattered  aerolites, 
Shot  by  the  Archer  of  November  skies; 

So  on  the  earth  the  grisly  menace  lights 

With  whirring  clang,  as  when  a  hailstorm  flies: 
Tornado  squalls  and  hurricanes  arise, 

And  sweep  the  rocks  from  off  the  Aleutian  isles, 
And  snap  the  iceberg  loose  from  where  it  lies, 

Bridging  the  land  and  water  many  miles, 

And  drive  to  Californian  shores  the  mountain  piles. 


Instant  they  drop  upon  a  level  plain, 

A  via  dolorosa,  where  extend 
Long  leagues  of  downs,  a  pastoral  champaign, 

And  over  billowy  seas  of  grasses  bend 

Their  steps,  and  over  bushes  without  end, 
Trampling  the  prickly  acanthus  and  the  briar 

Till  the  ground  sinks  beneath  the  path  they  trend 
And  torrifies  beneath  their  tread  the  mire, 
A  pestilence  that  walks  through  flood,  and  fell,  and 
fire. 


DES  TR  UC TION  OF  THE  EAR  TH.  1 95 

xxxiv. 
As  in  the  ancient  world  the  mastodon 

And  megatherium  roamed  the  solitudes 
Of  cycas  glades,  and  monsters  preyed  upon 

The  giraffe  and  the  elk,  and  constant  feuds 

Prevailed  with  fury  in  the  queachy  woods; 
So  now  the  fear  of  death  with  anguish  shakes 

Again  each  creature  of  the  multitudes 
Existent  on  the  earth,  and  pains  and  aches 
Fly  from  Pandora's  box,  whose  shut  lid  Satan  breaks. 

XXXV. 

Astonished  were  the  Powers  of  Evil  when 
They  saw  the  denizens  this  globe  contained, 

The  peerless  spirits  and  the  princely  men, 

The  manna  and  the  quails  that  on  them  rained, 
The  light  of  Heaven's  sun,  by  crime  unstained, 

The  rich  oblation  of  the  grateful  prayer, 

The  growth  of  knowledge  of  God's  mercy  gained, 

The  poetry  of  beauty  everywhere, 

And  secrets  of  rapt  song  that  lips  of  pen  declare. 

xxxvi. 

"  O  spectacle  magnificent!  "  exclaimed 
The  arch  imposter.     "  Millions  here  adore 

The  man-god,  by  the  great  Adonai  named 
His  Vicar,  and  the  Viceroy  of  His  power, 
On  whom  infatuate  fools  delight  to  shower 

Mitres  and  crowns  of  glory,  while  I  pine 
In  irksome  wretchedness  and  envy  sore; 

For  this  Millennial  Sovereignty  divine, 

With  all  its  principalities,  should  have  been  mine." 


1 96  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

XXXVII. 

"And  I  am  left  neglected  and  despised; 

No  lavish  promise  now  is  pledged  for  aid 
At  my  confessional,  nor  am  I  advised 

Of  sins  in  embryo^  nor  are  blood-dues  paid 

My  idol,  nor  are  votive  altars  made 
To  deprecate  the  wrath  of  my  dread  name : 

Yet  was  I  once  of  seraphim  the  head, 
And  dared  contend  with  internecine  flame 
'Gainst  His  supremacy,  jealous  of  His  high  fame/' 

XXXVIII. 

"  Who  was  the  Victor;  but  not  all  victorious, 

For  I  seized  from  Him  half  of  His  estate, 
And  with  Him  shared  an  empire  not  inglorious; 

Since,  where  ruled  His  love,  there  still  reigned  my 
hate, 

Until  the  hour  when  he  willed  to  create 
This  Kingdom  of  His  Saints,  this  Eden  new: 

Shall  I  resign  me  to  the  ignoble  fate 
To  fly  from  this  usurper  and  His  crew, 
And  yield  -up  all  to  them,  or  else  the  fight  renew  ?  " 

xxxix. 
"  Then  war  I'll  wage,  and  rich  will  be  the  prize 

To  him  who  conquers — of  all  orbs  the  best, 
The  Arcady  most  ornate  in  the  skies, 

Of  peace,  and  grace,  and  love,  and  joy  possessed, 

And  linked  with  Heaven,  its  satellite  confessed; 
Where  dwell  assemblies  of  distempered  men, 

Some  coveting  preposterous  to  be  drest 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  EARTH.  197 

In  budge  authority,  and  power  attain; 

Others  that  they  may  gold,  the  soul  of  matter  gain." 

XL. 
"  Since  purged  by  drastic  hellebore  of  war, 

They've  lived  in  health  robust  a  thousand  years; 
But  Mammon  has  become  the  guiding  star 

To  this  Millennium:  no  more  justice  fears, 

By  bribes  hoodwinked,  to  be  what  he  appears, 
Stock-jobbing  Croesus  openly  to  tell 

How  he  defrauded;  nor  the  priest  forbears/ 
Turned  auctioneer,  his  tawdry  pews  to  sell, 
Nor  pious  author  shrinks  from  gossip  lipped  in  hell." 

XLI. 
"  For  sake  of  Chemosh  wives  of  bourgeois  kill 

Their  seed  ere  they  had  come  to  natural  birth, 
Assisted  by  some  purse-paid  leech's  skill. 

The  womb  become  their  church -yard  ere  brought 
forth; 

The  blood  of  innocents  again  stains  earth, 
Their  smothered  cries  in  depths  of  Hell  are  heard, 

And  these  excite  contempt,  but  scarcely  mirth; 
No  puma  ever  yet  her  cubs  abhorred, 
The  only  monster  is  this  world's  voluptuous  lord." 

XLII. 

"  While  concupiscent  Eve  her  offspring  spurns, 
The  ore  and  walrus  draw  their  dugs  to  give 

Suck  to  their  calves;  worse  than  the  ostrich  turns 
Woman  who  would  be  angel !  yet  who  live 
And  children  nurse  with  care  that  they  may  thrive, 


198  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

But  rear  them  to  be  hirelings  to  the  great. 

Uxorious  prodigal,  sore  shalt  thou  grieve ! 
Go,  blind  as  instinct,  love  and  propagate ! 
Thy  son  shall  pass  through  fire  to  gild  some  Moloch's 
state!" 

XLIII. 
So  mused  the  Apostate,  cogitating  ill : 

But  now  he  had  arrived  at  Samarcand, 
With  his  associate  demons,  who  soon  fill 

The  palaces  and  temples  of  the  land, 

And  urge  the  factious  people  to  withstand 
The  autocratic  rule  of  the  Messiah, 

His  arbitrary  law  and  stern  command, 
To  assail  his  Camp  of  Love  with  flame  and  fire, 
And  drive  him  with  his  saints  back  to  his  doating  sire. 

XLIV. 

"  This  priest  is  too  exacting  in  his  calls 

For  dues,  far  too  extortionate  to  pay, 
The  journey  tedious  to  these  festivals 

And  raree-shows;  and  why  should  Salem  sway 

The  councils  of  your  capital,  and  play 
The  patron  hated  ?     With  our  master's  aid, 

If  ye  will  but  his  orders  just  obey, 
Ye  may  this  Agapcemene  invade, 
And  the  meek  cushat's  nest  shall  be  in  ashes  laid." 

XLV. 
"  The  glory  of  the  kingdoms  of  the  world, 

Once  offered  to  this  supercilious  king, 
He  offers  to  you,  when  ye  shall  have  hurled 

From  his  proud  seat  this  maminet,  to  whom  bring 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  EARTH.  199 

Princes  their  tribute,  and  his  praises  sing 
With  sycophantic  zeal.     Then  think  what  ye 

May  then  become,  and  how  the  world  will  ring 
With  your  exploits  when  they  your  triumph  see; 
How  Hell,  with  wild  acclaim,  will  greet  your  victory." 

XLVI. 

The  brooding  discontent  in  fury  burst, 
Vented  in  mutinous  maledictions  loud, 

Pillage  and  civil  discord,  and  the  worst 
Indignities  were  offered,  and  a  shroud, 
Surmounted  by  a  skull,  was  by  the  crowd 

Hoisted  upon  the  palace  of  the  state; 
Whose  chief  was  forced  to  fly,  too  firm  and  proud 

To  yield  to  threats,  or  fear  their  frantic  hate, 

Too  true  their  godless  treason  to  propitiate. 

XLVII. 
At  the  head  of  this  reinforcement,  formed 

Of  states  revolted,  fit  compeers  of  Hell, 
And  with  Hell's  powers,  by  sorcery  transformed 

To  beasts  ferocious,  shagged  with  hairy  fell, 

Or  scaly  reptiles  in  their  braided  shell; 
The  tiger  that  on  flesh  its  hunger  slakes, 

The  vulture  that  can  death  and  carrion  smell, 
Colossal  vampires,  wolves,  and  sharks,  and  snakes, 
The  foe  of  God  and  man  the  road  to  Zion  takes. 

XLVIII. 
Winged  as  an  ospray,  Beelzebub  appears 

Astride  a  fire-maned  dragon's  bristling  back, 
That  furious  blazes  as  his  crest  he  rears; 
ii 


200  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

On  a  huge  hirsute  amphisbaena,  black 
With  deadly  venom,  in  a  whirlwind's  track 
Rides  the  fell  hate  of  Moloch,  couching  spear, 

And  jousting  at  the  phantoms  in  the  rack; 
Thammuz  and  Dagon  and  the  rest  career 
On  horned  hippogriffes,  and  scour  through  creek  and 
mere : 

XLIX. 

And  there  are  men  bull-headed,  brute  and  wild, 

Lions  man-faced,  the  ogre  Minotaur, 
Who  sniffs  the  fresh  blood  of  the  new-born  child 

As  perfume,  Gorgons  striking  stony  awe, 

Harpies  with  fouling  snout  and  greedy  claw, 
Hydras,  Chimseras,  Sphinxes,  goblins,  ghouls, 

More  fierce  than  ever  lunes  of  madness  saw, 
Scorpions  and  pythons,  hybrid  fish  and  fowls; 
And  all  these  monstrous  shapes  possess  demoniac 
souls. 

L. 

There  was  the  dread  of  Demogorgon's  name, 

Like  to  a  rumor  of  prophetic  woe, 
An  apprehensive  sense  of  ruin  and  shame, 

As  from  a  lipless  mouth  the  mutters  flow 

In  silent  curses,  with  an  unseen  blow: 
Impalpable  as  is  a  gust  of  wind, 

He  marches  in  the  front,  man's  mortal  foe — 
The  energumen  that  strikes  with  panic  blind — 
A  fury  to  the  heart,  fate  to  the  fearful  mind. 

LI. 

And  there  was  Sin,  who  like  a  woman  smiled 
With  laughter-loving  orbs,  flames  in  disguise, 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  EARTH.  201 

That  with  the  serpent's  fascination  killed  : 

Twin  stars,  that  seemed  the  watchers  of  the  skies, 
But  were  Death's  keepers;  tongue  that  dropped 
with  lies, 

The  tinkling  lure  of  the  false  syren's  lyre, 

A  voice  that  compassed  Heaven's  symphonies, 

And  yet  the  sharpest  pipe  in  all  Hell's  choir; 

No  creature  formed  of  flesh,  but  fashioned  out  of  fire. 

LIT. 
But  Satan  paramount  towers  over  all, 

His  countenance  the  human  face  divine, 
Instinct  with  scorn,  and  hate,  and  envious  gall; 

Yet  on  his  brow  deep  thoughts  the  furrows  line, 

With  dark  misgivings  and  distrust  malign; 
Mounted  on  Death's  pale  charger,  while  around 

The  air  is  thick  with  Lemurs,  line  on  line 
Soaring  aloft,  and  shimmering  the  ground, 
Till  heaves  the  moon  eclipsed,  tempested  by  the 
sound. 

Lin. 

Terrific,  hideous,  horrid  was  the  steed, 
Of  form  voluminous,  as  a  cloud  distent 

With  hail,  when  driven  by  the  north  wind's  speed; 
Champing  the  bit,  from  off  his  withers  bent 
He  shook  black  atrophy,  his  nostrils  sent 

Agues  that  waste  the  flesh  to  atomies, 

And  pustules  raise  that  heart  and  rein  torment: 

His  roar  was  like  a  battle's  hosting  cries, 

Or  thousand  ghosts  that  shriek  along  the  thundering 
skies. 


202  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 


The  turf  by  their  tread  plowed  and  harrowed,  rose 

In  ridges  sluiced  with  fire,  the  flexile  air, 
Fanned  by  the  furnace  blast  of  pinions,  glows 

With  incandescent  pillars;  everywhere 

Is  heard  a  rattle,  or  is  seen  a  glare; 
Voices  are  heard  that  to  each  other  shout, 

Beneath  the  earth,  .whence  hollow  threatenings 

blare ; 

Forests  and  rocks  are  crushed  along  their  route, 
And  bays,  and  sounds,  and  loughs  evaporate  in 
drought. 

LV. 
Where'er  they  pass  the  soil  with  smudgy  smoke 

Reeks  as  a  kiln,  or  as  a  blasted  moor 
Is  seared  by  noxious  fumes  that  verdure  choke ; 

They  onward  move,  portending  death  before 

And  leaving  plagues  behind;  down  swift  they  pour, 
As  alpine  avalanches  crashing  fall; 

And  up  they  scale  the  braes,  as  drives  the  frore 
Snow-storm  against  a  rugged  pinnacle, 
And  with  their  iron  tramp  crevice  the  rocky  wall. 


The  beauty  of  Zion  looms  before  their  eyes, 
With  her  empyreal  Temple,  and  her  towers 

Resplendent,  battlements,  spires,  balconies, 
And  cupolas,  o'er  which  a  halo  lowers 
An  orbed  glory,  steeped  in  rainbow  showers: 

The  camp  is  quiet;  no  preparations  mar 

The  sweet  repose  that  reigns,  no  banded  powers 


DESTR UC TION  OF  THE  EAR TH.  203 

Embattled,  are  drawn  up  the  impending  war 
To  combat,  for  the  saints  in  Jesus  trustful  are. 

LVII. 
He  leads  a  retinue  of  priests  within 

The  Holy  Tabernacle  to  pray  to  God; 
For  well  he  knows  the  irate  Lord  of  Sin 

Will  now  be  punished  by  his  Father's  rod, 

And  Death  beneath  the  heel  of  Glory  trod: 
The  word  was  spoke  a  thousand  years  before, 

And  ratified  as  law  by  Jao's  nod. 
That  men  should  learn  the  arts  of  war  no  more, 
But  peace  should  rule  from  shore  to  antipodean 
shore. 

LVIII. 

The  crests  and  shoulders  of  the  mountains  beam 
With  trains  of  glinting  spear  and  fiery  lance, 

And  corslets,  shields,  and  casques  and  morions  gleam 
As  the  slant  rays  of  dawn  upon  them  glance : 
Files  upon  files  of  rebel  troops  advance 

In  lines  and  squares  on  foot,  and  form  the  van, 
Ranks  upon  ranks  of  foaming  coursers  prance, 

Ensigns  and  gonfalons  the  breezes  fan, 

And  plume  and  panoply  equip  beast,  fiend,  and  man. 

LIX. 

The  Hallucinated  now  on  chariot  borne, 
Inflames  with  passion  as  a  setting  sun, 

With  storms  distent;  by  teams  of  griffins  drawn, 
He  grows  in  space  terrific,  with  a  crown 
Of  starry  grandeur  decked,  a  zodiac's  zone 


204  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

That  turbans  darkness;  arrogant  and  vain 
He  looks,  and  sneers  disdainfully  upon 
The  fellowship  of  peace,  angels  and  men 
Who,  heedless  of  his  rage,  forbearance  calm  maintain. 

LX. 

Yet  sad  he  seems  at  times,  mistrustful  tried 

By  penitential  awe;  his  lordly  lips 
Are  then  with  pallid  hues  of  terror  dyed : 

As  the  moon  in  an  annular  eclipse, 

When  in  the  garish  orb  her  disk  she  dips, 
Shows  a  black  visor,  with  a  cusp  around; 

So  round  his  head  a  luminous  circle  clips 
His  temples,  with  his  jeweled  mitre  bound, 
But  down  his  face  is  turned,  a  shadow  to, the  ground. 

LXI. 

Standing  upon  his  car,  with  finger  pointed 
Towards  Jerusalem,  with  vapid  pride 

Uplifted  militant  against  the  anointed 
Melchizedec,  thus  to  his  host  he  cried, 
And  thus  the  power  of  Heaven  and  earth  defied: 

"  There  is  a  god,  omnipotent  to  save, 
Almighty  to  coerce,  who  seeks  to  hide 

When  dangers  threaten,  in  the  Temple's  cave, 

Too  meek  and  timid  grown  to  gird  on  thigh  his 
glaive  !  " 

LXII. 

"  The  prize  is  ours!     See  how  the  seraphs  sneak 
From  our  resentment!  They  have  gone  to  prayers: 

To  whine  for  help,  afraid  a  lance  to  break, 

Lcs':  they  te  grshed  and  gored:  far  other  cares, 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  EARTH.  205 

.    To  fatten  sleek  on  singing  psalms  are  theirs, 
Than  the  hard  blows  of  rude  contending  war. 

The  sight  of  blood  the  maudlin  martyr  scares, 
The  saint  precise  and  prim  a  wound  might  mar, 
And  sanctimonious  looks  be  spoiled  by  a  foul  scar." 

LXIII. 
"And  shall  I  to  this  driveling  weakness  bend 

A  suppliant  knee,  and  fawn,  and  sue  for  grace  ? 
To  his  humility  for  pardon  send, 

And  with  an  abject,  hypocritic  face, 

Cry  mercy  ?     No,  but  to  my  chariot's  trace 
I  will  attach  this  nonpareil,  and  drive 

Him,  urged  precipitant  by  whips  to  race 
Over  the  ruins  of  his  own  drone  hive; 
This  right  hand  is  the  god  by  which  I  mean  to  thrive/'7 

LXIV. 

That  instant  from  the  Heavens  a  shaft  of  fire, 
By  awful  vengeance  thrown,  the  lofty  brow 

Of  the  Aspirer  struck,  and  sheared  a  dire 
Chasm  hideous,  hurling  to  the  depths  below 
Him  shrieking,  quivering,  writhing  from  the  blow: 

Down  from  the  Hill  of  Evil  Council  cast, 

He  fell,  the  fractured  clouds  careering  through, 

Through  sideral  storms  maleficent  aghast, 

And  sunk  through  chaos  back  to  native  Hell  at  last. 

LXV. 

Ten  thousand  linked  thunderbolts  are  sent 
In  rapid  volleys  from  the  zenith's  cope, 
And,  flashing  through  the  whirlwinds  turbulent, 


206  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

With  ravage  on  the  land  and  waters  drop, 
Scattering  huge  rocks,  wrenched  from  the  hills,  noi 

stop 
Their  havoc  there;  but  chains  of  mountains  rend, 

And  their  firm  granite-banked  foundations  ope 
And  the  thick  lodes  of  metal  tilt  and  bend, 
And  toss  the  molten  ore  in  showers  without  end. 

LXVI. 
The  lakes  of  pitch  and  bitumen  ignite, 

And  beds  of  nitre  fulminate  in  flame; 
The  oceans  boil,  and  as  their  billows  light 

On  heated  shelves  and  reefs,  they  burst  in  steam 

Explosive,  with  a  subterranean  scream 
From  lacerated  scars,  and  shivered  peaks, 

And  shattered  promontories,  with  wood  and  stream 
Still  hanging  pendant,  and  the  splintered  wrecks 
To  atoms  are  calcined,  and  earth  asunder  breaks. 

LXVII. 
In  the  uproarious,  black  profundity, 

A  grave  to  swallow  up  the  universe, 
Glares  the  carbuncle  of  the  sun's  red  eye, 

A  funeral  torch  to  light  dead  nature's  hearse, 

Waved  by  fell  Hecate  with  demoniac  curse; 
The  spectral  condor,  swooping  in  the  sky, 

Drops  ruffled  and  convulsed,  a  stiffened  corpse; 
Yet  even  then  in  frantic  agony 

Mothers  their  sucklings  sought  to  snatch  and  blindly 
fly. 

LXV1II. 

Then  detonating  flames  of  hydrogen 

Shot  from  the  day-god's  mouth,  and  with  a  tongue 


\ 
DES  TR  UC TION  OF  THE  EAR  TH.  207 

Licked  up  the  comet's  phosphorescent  train, 

And  Jove's  four  moons,  and  Saturn's  rings  that  hung 
Suspended  in  a  silver  girdle  strung 

Round  the  old  sky-king's  waist,  till  Neptune's  car, 
Driving  the  asteroids  of  worlds  among, 

Glows  on  the  rim  of  solar  space,  a  phare 

Warning  of  danger  to  each  nether  nebulous  star. 

LXIX. 

The  cerement  of  the  night,  that  was  to  know 
No  dawning  morrow,  folded  with  her  pall 

The  moon  and  stars  extinguished.     Woe,  woe,  woe 
To  earth's  inhabitants!  from  Heaven's  hall 
The  golden  lamps  and  silver  cressets  fall; 

And  the  orb  "  Wormwood"  ruins  with  a  flood 
That  curdles  wells  and  fountains  into  gall, 

And  rivulets  to  ooze  of  gory  mud — 

Horror  on  horrors  worse!  the  very  air  is  blood! 

LXX. 
Then  an  archangel,  robed  in  light,  descends 

On  doom's-day  mission,  with  a  dark,  dead  star 
Incoronate,  to  announce  that  time  now  ends, 

And  peals  the  sonorous  metal  that  afar 

Alarum  blares,  where'er  the  living  are, 
Or  the  defunct  are  buried,  echoing  round, 

Deafening  the  din  of  elemental  war: 
The  requiem,  as  an  earthquake,  cracks  the  ground, 
And  seas  are  lifted  up,  and  vanish  at  the  sound, 

LXXI. 

Stunned  and. aghast,  the  living  senseless  gaze, 
Mute  and  immovable,  paralyzed  with  fear: 


208  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

And  as  they  stand  with  anguish  of  amaze 
Impetrified,  the  igneous  atmosphere 
Infolds  them,  conscious  in  a  deathless  bier: 

They  feel  as  if  from  out  their  frames  the  blood 
Is  trickling,  while  their  flesh  to  essence  clear 

Is  transubstantiating,  and  endued 

With  spirit  only  as  their  bodies  are  renewed. 

LXXII. 
With  rattling  rustle  of  unnumbered  wings, 

Mid  lamentations  and  loud  clamor,  Time, 
The  infanticidal  mother  of  all  things, 

Rolling  in  convoluted  folds  sublime 

Her  form  Protean,  shadowy  now  and  dim, 
Sails  from  the  earth  away  to  other  spheres, 

The  starry  steps  of  firmaments  to  climb, 
To  where  a  point  of  light  in  space  appears, 
The  foetus  of  an  orb  just  born,  and  thither  steers. 

LXXIII. 

What  morn  is  this  that  breaks  upon  my  night  ? 

My  sleeping  dust  wakes  at  the  clarion's  sound, 
And,  eyeless  though  it  be,  is  dowered  with  sight; 

I  feel  a  tremor  creep  along  the  ground, 

In  fibres  of  pellucid  ether  bound, 
And  mold  itself  to  shape,  and  start  to  life, 

Essential  spirit;  while  the  worms  around 
Burrow  in  darkness,  frighted  by  the  strife 
And  coil  of  struggling  clods,  with  new  existence  rife. 

LXXIV. 

My  soul  mounts  Nature  as  my  Throne;  I  tread 
On  air  and  light,  till  of  myself  a  part 


DES  TR  UC  TION  OF  THE  EAR  TH.  209 

Seems  the  whole  hemisphere  above  my  head; 
I  feel  the  hidden  God  within  my  heart, 
And  smile  at  fate;  for  hence  can  never  part 

Death  or  his  Shade  the  spark  divine  in  me; 
The  sun  by  day  can  smite  no  more,  nor  smart 

The  moon  by  night;  but,  though  from  terror  free, 

As  trembles  fear,  so  pants  my  dread  felicity ! 

LXXV. 

What  day  is  this  that  breaks  upon  my  night  ? 

The  graves  are  opened,  and  the  dead  arise 
Quick,  and  in  organs  clad  of  tissued  light, 

No  more  corruptible;  they  ride  the  skies 

Through  smoke  and  embers  where  their  pathway 

lies,  « 

A  host  beyond  all  number  numerous; 

Brighter  than  sunbeams  are  the  liveries 
Of  disembodied  souls  transpicuous, 
As  through  typhoons  of  flame  ascend  the  righteous. 

LXXVI. 

And  not  more  instantaneously  the  cloud 

Across  its  breast  the  listed  colored  zone 
Of  Peace  invests,  and  doffs  its  sable  shroud, 

Than  they  their  metamorphic  weeds  put  on; 

Nor  yet  more  quickly  doth  on  Lebanon, 
Hid  in  the  cavern  tenebrous  of  night, 

Peer  o'er  its  highest  pinnacle  the  sun, 
And  flood  the  fields  with  golden  waves  of  light, 
Than  bursts  the  Throne  of  God  on  their  astonished 
sight! 


210  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

LXXVII. 

But  loom  the  wicked  through  the  lurid  haze, 

As  meteors  ominous  of  deathly  hue, 
Or  sickly  stars,  that  scarce  through  fogs  can  gaze. 

Sodden  with  sin,  soaked  in  the  dye  of  rue, 

As  Hell  beneath  wide  opening  they  view; 
Yet  dart  they  upward,  though  against  their  will, 

Through   sulphurous   hail,    and    rattling    thunder 

through; 

Despair,  remorse,  and  fear  their  senses  fill, 
And  horrors  worse  than  Hell  their  souls  with  anguish 
thrill. 

LXXVIII. 

Pagods  and  palaces  then  tottering  fell, 

And  crumbled  into  puffs  of  dust  away; 
The  pyramid,  that  stood  a  sentinel 

Of  other  ages,  whence  he  might  survey 

The  generations  of  mankind  decay, 
As  solid  as  the  earth's  own  granite  base, 

Down  toppled  in  a  cloud  of  grimy  spray 
And  jets  of  cinders;  and  simooms  efface 
The  cities  and  the  towns  where  hive  the  human  race. 

LXXIX. 

The  immensity  of  waters  roaring  swell 

With  turbid  inundations  to  the  sky, 
That  fumes  with  the  dilated  briny  Hell, 

As  the  blue  serpents  of  the  lightning  fly 

Through  torrents  and  through  waterspouts  on  high : 
The  forests  reek,  singed  and  charred  Acherons, 

Rivers  dry  up  their  beds,  rocks  liquify, 


DE  S  TR  UC  TION  OF  THE  EAR  TH,  211 

And  flow  in  vitreous  pools,  and  shuddering  groans 
The  continent  with  pangs,  and  trembles  in  her  bones. 

LXXX. 
The  palm  uplifts  a  crown  of  scorched  leaves; 

The  lily  folds  her  petals  to  her  breast, 
Fair  virgin  nun,  and  for  her  May  prime  grieves, 

In  a  sarcophagus  of  flames  to  rest, 

By  the  soft  hand  of  morn  no  more  caressed; 
A  holocaust  of  beeves  burns  the  green  meadow, 

A  hecatomb  wild  beasts  and  birds  unblest; 
Life  flies  from  earth  as  flies  the  evening  shadow, 
And  Nature  dies,  an  immolated  Brahmin  widow. 

LXXXI. 

Loud  is  the  screeching  of  the  rushing  wind, 
Terrific  are  the  flaps  of  the  great  sheets 

Of  conflagration,  that  to  ashes  grind 

The  Andes  and  the  Alps,  whilst  pumice  sleets 
Are  blown  through  craters  by  the  tumid  heats, 

And  scoria  sluices  run  in  moraines  deep 

Into  the  dried-up  friths,  where  no  tide  beats 

Against  Typhcean  cliffs,  but  the  waves  sweep 

In  blazing  deluge  as  from  isle  to  isle  they  leap. 

LXXXII. 

The  ice-floes  at  the  polar  circle  melt 
Before  the  circumambient  torch  of  air; 

The  glacier-mound  combustible  has  felt 
The  thermal  breath,  and  in  the  ruddy  glare 
The  snow  and  frost  in  vapor  disappear; 

The  elements  dissolve,  the  gases  burst, 


2  TIME.  AND  ETERNITY. 

And  in  dense  clouds  roll  in  the  atmosphere. 
Down  spout  the  horrent  cataracts  accursed, 
And  air  and  water  are  in  Phlegethon  immersed. 

LXXXIII. 
Hither  with  terror  wild  the  demons  fly, 

O'er  hissing  sludge  eruptive,  to  avoid 
The  rifted  /Etnas  raining  from  the  sky; 

Thither  behind  some  standing  ridge  to  hide; 

In  vain  their  hopes  in  safety  to  abide : 
The  lightnings  find  them,  and  with  fury  smite 

Unerring,  the  All-seeing  Eye  their  guide; 
Transfixed  they  fall,  shorn  of  their  strength  and  might, 
And  prone  and  headlong  plunge  in  the  abyss  of  night. 

LXXXIV. 
In  the  dread  cataclysm,  sweating  with  steam 

From  Styx's  consuming  flood,  through  the  bronzed 

smoke, 

The  shades  of  Gog  and  Ryno  ghastly  gleam, 
From  their  confinement  in  their  kennels  broke, 
Where  them  the  trumpet  of  the  angel  woke: 
Shrieking  they  come,  afraid  of  judgment  more 

Than  of  the  driving  Furies'  goading  stroke, 
While  past  them  shuddering  the  devils  pour, 
Pursued  by  angel  guards,  who  fire-clouds  on  them 
shower. 

LXXXV. 
As  when  from  out  the  solar  loins  this  globe 

Was  born,  a  red-hot,  cinerated  sphere, 
With  dingy  vapor  for  her  swaddling  robe, 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  EARTH.  21; 

So  now  the  corpse  of  the  terrene  on  bier 
Of  bickering  flame  is  in  her  sepulchre 
Of  soot  interred;  the  boiling  aludel 

Froths  with  the  scum  of  chaos  everywhere; 
Yet  not  a  zephyr  curls  the  molten  swell, 
But  silence  undisturbed  reigns  o'er  the  murky  Hell. 

LXXXVI. 
Dread  pomp  sublime  of  horrors  without  end! 

No  sun  can  bleach  her  winding  sheet  of  mist, 
Thick  clouds  and  exhalations,  that  ascend 

To  shroud  the  skies;  nor  can  the  alchemyst 

Tincture  the  woof  with  evening  amethist; 
And  yet  an  unseen  Builder  silent  lays 

Strong  cofferdams  the  ruin  to  resist, 
And  drives  huge  buttress  piles,  on  which  to  raise 
The  new  Jerusalem,  with  gold  and  gems  ablaze. 


THE  LAST  JUDGMENT. 


CANTO   XI. 


N  a  white  Throne,  pavilioned  by  the  skies, 
In  the  deep  calm  of  Heaven's  blue  above 
Our  solar  sphere,  by  lofty  sanctities 
Sutrounded,  sat  the  God  of  Truth,  and  Love, 
And  Justice,  man  and  all  his  deeds  to  prove, 
If  good  or  evil:  centre  of  all  light, 

And  centre  of  all  life,  around  him  move 
The  orreries  which  else  were  veiled  in  night, 
But  with  His  glory  blaze,  and  chronicle  His  might. 

ii. 

Through  the  circumference  unending  roll 
Systems  of  worlds,  and  to  him  reverent  bow, 

As  to 'his  call  they  turn  from  pole  to  pole; 
Clusters  of  globes  that  in  fire-oceans  flow, 
In  sparry  dust  cycles  of  suns  that  glow, 

And  orbs  that  mingle  rays  of  every  hue, 
As  in  a  brotherhood  of  light  they  go; 

All  hail  Him  Judge  Supreme  with  homage  due, 

Whose  Eye  alone  their  labyrinthine  works  can  view 


THE  LAST  JUDGMENT.  215 

III. 

The  wonders  of  the  darkness  in  the  deep 
Unfathomable,  and  secrets  of  the  abyss, 

Beyond  the  bounds  where  trackless  comets  sweep, 
Where  the  chaotic  sunless  region  is, 
Stand  in  suspense  at  coming  mysteries; 

With  thunder  ope  the  welkin's  sapphire  doors, 
And,  cataracts  of  wings  and  fiery  eyes, 

The  angelic  name  on  the  ethereal  floors 

Innumerous  rush,  Dominions,  Virtues,  Princedoms 
Powers. 

IV. 

Legions  of  sabaoth  around  the  Throne, 

And  mitred  demigods,  armed  sword  in  hand 

Of  waving  flame,  to  guard  the  Holy  One, 
Within  the  halo  of  His  shadow  stand, 
Dark  in  the  light  divine  the  lustrous  band; 

O'er  golden  harps  ten  thousand  seraphs  bend, 
Pensive  and  mute,  absorbed  in  wonder  grand, 

And  lines  of  white-robed  spirits  without  end 

In  ordered  rank  and  file  the  dread  assize  attend. 


Below  His  footstool  of  refulgent  clouds 
Another  seat  was  raised,  upon  which  sat 

The  Assessor  of  his  Father's  power,  by  crowds 
Encompassed  of  his  saints  in  solemn  state, 
Pondering  the  fiat  of  impending  fate 

On  anxious  myriads  of  their  fellow  men: 
The  likeness  of  the  Godhead  increate 


2i 6  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

Sublimes  the  countenance  of  the  Lamb,  once  slain, 
issione 
chain. 


Commissioned  now  the  might  of  Hell  and  Death  to 


Upon  his  head  he  wears  a  kingly  crown, 
And  his  Sire's  sceptre  with  almighty  sway 

Holds  in  his  strong  right  hand,  while  o'er  his  throne 
A  curtained  canopy  of  stars  display 
The  Southern  Cross  and  fields  of  Milky  Way. 

To  him  the  Records  of  all  life  are  brought, 

Three  ponderous  volumes  writ  with  penciled  ray 

Of  light  indelible,  that  cannot  blot, 

Where  are  inscribed  all  deeds,  all  words,  and  every 
thought. 

VII. 

Oh!  blest  is  he  whose  name  is  in  the  Book 
Of  Life  eternal!     He  shall  pass  from  death 

To  bliss  unspeakable,  and  he  shall  look 

Straight  on  the  Judge's  face,  nor  fear  his  breath 
Comminatory,  but  his  brows  enwreath 

With  flowers  immortal,  wove  with  beams  of  light; 
The  frontispiece  immutable  of  faith, 

With  impress  of  his  conduct  blazoned  bright, 

He  bears  hence,  with  the  Morning  Star  of  Glory  dight. 

VIII. 

Swarming  appear  before  the  Judgment  Seat 
Souls,  like  a  cloud  of  motes  sunbeams  illume; 

On  either  side  arranged  before  the  great 
Tribunal,  to  receive  immediate  doom, 
Whether  in  grief  to  waste,  or  joy  to  bloom; 


THE  LA ST  JUD GHENT.  2 1 7 

The  resurrection  of  the  human  race, 

Whom  earth  can  hold  no  more,  nor  seas  inhume, 
Nor  death  retain,  who  in  an  instant  trace 
The  whole  of  their  past  lives,  each  limned  before  his 
face. 


Quick  as  the  twinkle  of  a  falcon's  eye, 

Their  antecedent  acts  revived  again, 
With  omnipresent  consciousness  they  spy 

In  visions  passing  through  the  nimble  brain, 

Raised  from  the  nothingness  where  they  had  lain ; 
A  shifting  panorama  of  all  scenes 

From  infancy  to  age,  where  care  and  pain, 
And  hopes  and  fears  are  pictured  on  the  screens, 
And  every  good  work  done,  and  all  accusing  sins. 


They  live  a  lifetime  in  a  moment's  space; 

And  recognize  each  thought,  and  word,  and  deed, 
And  every  niotive  ken  of  guilt  or  grace: 

Before  their  view  the  ghosts  of  crimes  proceed 

In  sad  procession,  and  no  prompter  need 
To  tell  their  names;  for  there  a  spot  is  seen 

Obtrusive,  that  appears  with  fire  to  bleed, 
Each  damning  carnal  trespass,  which  can  clean 
Repentance  only  unless  Heaven's  mercy  intervene. 

XI. 

Those  smile  with  peace,  these  frown  with  grim 

despair, 
Lugubrious;  all  are  portraits  of  their  deeds: 


218  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

Adam,  and  his  whole  progeny,  are  there; 
Each  generation,  as  the  one  succeeds 
The  ancestral  generation  that  precedes; 

The  giants  who  had  lived  before  the  Flood, 
The  tribes  of  patriarchs  after,  human  seeds 

Sown  in  the  earth,  that  brought  forth  flesh  and  blood, 

Till  thick  as  blades  of  grass  grew  up  the  multitude: 

XII. 

The  nations  who  had  founded  states  renowned, 

The  populace  of  cities  passed  away, 
Since  ages  unremembered,  but  now  found; 

The  inhabitants,  dread  thought!  of  our  own  day; 

Familiar  faces,  whom  we  fond  survey; 
Of  empires  the  dry  bones  and  living  hives, 

The  nomades  sparse  that  in  zaharas  stray; 
Who  flouts  in  pride,  and  who  in  sorrow  grieves — 
Our  fathers,  mothers,  brothers,  sisters,  sons,  and 
wives. 


Here  are  the  forms  colossal  of  the  first 

Born  of  the  earth,  of  massive  bone  and  thew, 

And  cliff-like  beetling  brow,  mid  mammoths  nursed 
And  behemoths;  and  yet  their  daughters  drew 
Angels  from  Paradise  their  charms  to  view, 

So  sweet  and  amiable  in  wanton  guiles 

That  lure  to  love:  the  sons  of  Heaven  flew 

From  Heaven's  battlements,  against  their  wiles 

Resistless,  leaving  peace  and  bliss  for  woman's 
smiles. 


THE  LAST  JUDGMENT.  219 

XIV. 

The  mythic  shape  of  Nimrod  tines  confessed, 

Extravagant  barbarian,  who  first  sought 
Empiry  over  man:  his  haughty  crest 

A  plate  of  gold,  with  spikes  of  iron  wrought, 
Encircles;  and  the  sword  with  which  he  fought, 
His  titled  sceptre,  in  his  nerveless  hands 

He  grasps  in  vain,  the  steel  turns  into  nought: 
Drained  of  his  strength  prodigious,  faint  he  stands, 
And  scowls  with  huge  distress  round  on  the  armed 
bands. 

xv. 

And  dynasties  of  Pharoahs,  as  a  cloud 

With  rainbows  frushed,  trod  the  translucent  floor, 
Attired  in  regal  garments  for  a  shroud, 

Ablaze  with  emeralds,  and  the  pshent  they  bore 

Of  double  Egypt,  but  with  pride  no  more; 
Nor  with  the  spirit  of  their  Parent  Sun 

Flamed  their  souls  then,  as  to  the  Memphian 

shore 

Their  thoughts,  sad  pilgrims,  wandered,  and  the  dun 
Degraded  tribes  their  craft  in  priestly  kingship  won. 

XVI. 

A  cerement,  interwove  of  light  and  shade, 
Invests  the  son  of  Ammon,  in  whose  face 

Dim  streaks  of  glory  into  darkness  fade, 
Ambition  adumbrating  princely  grace: 
Why  in  the  hero  Satan  should  we  trace  ? 

He  sowed  the  earth  with  wars,  and  now  he  reaps 
The  bloody  harvest:  into  vasty  space 


220  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

He  looks  across  his  shoulder,  and  he  sweeps 
Worlds  at  a  glance,  but  for  their  conquest  no  more 
weeps. 

XVII. 

As  in  an  autumn  fog  two  ravens  loom, 

The  rival  consuls  lower,  matched  in  crime, 

Destroying  ministers  of  angry  doom; 

And  he  who  on  their  ruins  aimed  to  climb 
To  the  world's  throne,  with  intellect  sublime, 

More  shrewd  and  subtle,  polished  and  refined, 
As  bold  and  yet  more  gentle,  than  whom  time 

Brought  not  a  grander  genius  to  mankind, 

Now  strives  his  Nessian  toga  round  his  face  to  bind, 

XVIII. 

To  hide  his  discomposure.     Him  beside, 

A  vile  abortion,  from  his  mother's  womb 
Thrust  by  a  nightmare,  shrinks  the  matricide : 

Despair  sits  on  his  brow  in  hearse-like  gloom; 

He  knows  that  justly  in  perdition's  tomb 
His  fate  is  sealed  irrevocable,  and  quakes 

Convulsed,  as  on  the  worthless  pomp  of  Rome 
He  thinks,  and  on  himself  its  shame,  then  wakes 
From  horrid  dreams  to  worse  that  on  his  senses  breaks, 

XIX. 

Then  leaps  his  frightened  heart  against  his  side? 
To  escape  the  moxa  torch  of  burning  thought; 

Unutterably  forlorn,  one  moan  he  sighed, 
And  saw  the  pool  of  blood  he  had  in  sport 
So  wanton  shed,  and  with  the  vision  fought 


THE  LAST  JUDGMENT.  221 

In  vain;  down  on  his  throat  his  head  declined, 

And  torpid  fell  his  hand,  yet  twitching  wrought, 
As  if  at  spectres  clutching  in  the  wind; 
And  thousand  deaths  and  furies  seized  his  wretched 
mind. 


But  mid  the  saints  elect  there  Alfred  stood, 

Entranced  in  bliss,  of  Albion's  kings  the  best, 
The  pious,  learned,  and  the  only  good, 

Of  tender  heart  and  soul  devout  possessed, 

A  hero  sanctified,  a  scholar  blest: 
And  near  is  Blanche  of  Castile,  Gallia's  queen, 

Her  people's  mother,  now  a  queen  confessed 
Among  the  brides  of  Heaven,  with  gentle  mien 
The  spectacle  regarding,  calm,  sedate,  serene. 

XXI. 

Yet  oft  her  stolen  glance  is  cast  upon 
An  angel  face  beside  her,  who  had  been 

Her  soul  of  life  on  earth,  her  dear  loved  son, 
Now  splendent  with  the  pure  and  dazzling  sheen 
Of  beauty  where  the  prime  of  youth  is  green 

In  Spring  immortal:  champion  of  the  Cross, 
Mistaken  saint,  ill-fated  paladin, 

Thy  mother's  death  mourned  thy  untimely  loss, 

A  blush  of  shame  thy  bliss  dashes  with  just  remorse. 

XXII. 

Close  to  them  is  the  sage  of  Cambalu, 

The  first-born  of  the  pundits,  who  first  taught 
The  reverence  to  law  and  order  due, 


222  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

And  the  rude  churl,  uncouth  barbarian,  brought 
To  live  submissive  to  the  rule  of  thought: 
Bland  the  philanthropist  appeared  and  kind, 

Shrewd  the  philosopher,  austere  and  haught; 
He  oped  the  windows  of  the  human  mind, 
And  let  God's  sunshine  in  to  illuminate  mankind. 

XXIII. 

Greater  than  he,  with  an  undaunted  gaze, 

The  Parsee  Prophet  proudly  scanned  the  light, 

Where  round  the  Judgment  Throne  the  fiery  blaze 
Enkindled  as  a  sun,  and  to  his  sight 
Ormasdes  seemed,  the  Antagonist  of  Night: 

The  Dorian  legislator,  whose  stern  code 
A  race  of  warriors  of  heroic  might 

Made  of  his  countrymen,  with  ardor  glowed 

As  he  surveyed  the  ranks  where  marshaled  angels  rode : 

XXIV. 

And  Numa,  too,  was  there,  whose  mind,  the  seat 

Of  peaceful  thoughts,  loved  to  frequent  the  shade 
Of  the  cool  grotto,  where  Egeria  sweet, 

No  simulacre  of  a  mortal  maid, 

Nor  creature  spun  of  meagre  nothing's  braid, 
But  Wisdom's  Heavenly  Muse,  in  ethic  hymn 

Of  man  conversed,  and  social  lore  conveyed, 
Communed  of  Nature,  and  of  God  supreme, 
And  of  Religion,  which  is  God  that  dwells  in  him. 

XXV. 

In  the  wide  chancel  of  the  marble  air 

The  court  is  held,  and  ghosts  in  ranks  are  spread 


THE  LAST  JUDGMENT.  223 

Thick  on  the  cloud-swept  hall,  and  everywhere 
A  hedge  of  lightning  flanks  the  risen  dead, 
And  thunders  mutter  vengeance  overhead : 

Around  are  sentries,  who  the  circuit  pace 

On  watchful  guard;  and  farther,  zodiacs  tread 

The  longitudes  interminable  that  trace 

The  future,  as  they  stretch  their  line  through  azure 
space. 


The  thought  appals  me !  scarce  I  dare  proceed 
To  paint  the  anguish  and  the  horror  dire, 

The  wild  remorse,  perhaps  for  one  sole  deed 
Left  unatoned,  as  wreathes  in  coiling  spire 
Around  the  spirit's  heart  the  worm  of  fire, 

That  never  dies,  but  burns  as  it  consumes; 
Now  but  a  spark  that  chafes  to  kindle  higher, 

And  flame,  but  till  the  final  sentence  dooms 

The  wretch  to  pangs  of  Hell  it  scarce  a  flash  illumes. 

XXVII. 

As  blazing  wide  the  skirts  of  glory  roll 
Before  a  rushing  whirlwind,  loud  is  heard 

A  mighty  voice,  that  to  the  guilty  soul 
Speaks  thunderbolts  in  every  awful  word: 
"  Son  of  my  love!  to  whom  I  have  transferred 

My  empire  o'er  revivified  mankind, 

And  on  whom  all  dominion  I've  conferred 

To  bind  in  Heaven,  and  in  Hell  to  bind, 

As  justice  shall  or  mercy  sway  thy  righteous  mind;" 
12 


224  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

XXVIII. 

"Sole  upright  found  of  all  the  sons  of  men! 

For  thou  wert  flesh,  and  frailty  once  didst  know, 
Yet  ne'er  succumbed  to  sin,  nor  swerved  to  pain ; 

And,  though  severely  afflicted,  did'st  not  show 

A  fainting  heart,  but  with  thy  sainted  brow 
Uplifted  in  thy  dying  agony, 

Forgav'st  thy  foes,  such  pity  then  had'st  thou 
For  crime  through  ignorance,  from  malice  free; 
Judge  now  thy  fellow  creatures  in  like  charily." 


"Since  who  so  fit  as  thou,  who  erst  hast  been 
As  one  of  them,  and  felt  their  troubles  sore, 

Their  cares  oppressive,  and  misfortunes  keen, 

To  weigh  their  actions,  and  their  thoughts  explore, 
Whether  the  strong  enticement  were  not  more 

At  fault  than  was  their  trespass.     Lenient  be, 
Considerate  and  placable  on  score 

Of  venial  misdemeanors,  but  strictly  try 

Lies,  slander,  guile,  theft,  murder,  and  hypocrisy." 

XXX. 

"  I  have  no  pleasure  in  the  bad  man's  death, 

But  chasten  him  that  he  may  grace  receive 
To  breathe  of  empyrean  skies  the  breath, 

And  drink  the  light  where  souls  eternal  live; 

And  this  my  last  best  gift  him  will  I  give, 
And  gather  to  myself  all  things  in  One, 

When  nothing  living  shall  be  found  to  grieve, 
But  mercy  cincture  Heaven  as  a  zone, 
And  joy,  as  fragrant  galbanum,  salute  My  Throne." 


THE  LAST  JUDGMENT,  225 

XXXI. 

Thus  His  command  Omnipotence  expressed: 

And  as  the  Chancellor  of  Heaven  rose, 
With  meekness  bright,  the  image  manifest 

Of  Love  and  Mercy  in  his  countenance  glows, 

Yet  his  similitude  with  Justice  shows; 
And  thus  illumined  with  the  traits  divine 

Of  majesty  preeminent,  he  bows 
Obedience,  pleased.     "  Whatever  will  be  Thine, 
To  do  that  sovereign  will  delighted  shall  be  mine;" 

XXXII. 

"For  Thy  law's  written,  Father,  on  my  heart! 

I  thank.  Thee  that  Thou  so  hast  magnified 
Thy  Son  as  to  him  Thine  own  power  impart 

To  judge  all  flesh;  and  further,  dost  confide 

All  things  to  him,  by  Thy  gift  sanctified, 
Thy  sword,  Thy  rod,  Thy  sceptre,  and  Thy  crown, 

Not  mine,  but  Thine;  on  whom  alone  abide 
All  honor  and  renown,  who  on  Thy  Throne 
In  glory  inaccessible  rul'st  Heaven  alone." 

XXXIII. 

"The  hour  of  my  high  exaltation  's  come! 

O,  grant  me  wisdom,  Father,  to  maintain 
Mine  own  integrity,  that  I  may  doom 

None  undeservedly  to  wrath  and  pain, 

But  in  each  sentence  just  Thy  law  sustain. 
Thou  hast  been  pleased  to  approve  my  life  below, 

Initiatory  trial  to  attain 
Thy  favor,  and  redeem  mankind  from  woe; 
Yet  Thou  wast  ever  near  to  soothe  my  aching  brow." 


226  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

xxxiv. 
•'  To  Thee  the  honor  of  my  triumph  then 

Acknowledged  be,  the  merit  sole  to  Thee 
Ascribed,  and  undisparaged  still  remain: 

That  work  on  earth  committed  unto  me 

With  Thy  support  I  finished  faithfully; 
This  let  me  now  proceed  in  grace  to  do, 

And  Thee  in  my  new  office  glorify, 
That  all  created  life  the  heavens  through 
Thy  justice  and  Thy  perfect  righteousness  may  view." 


The  Rede  of  Fate  is  opened,  and  the  Tomes 

Of  good  and  evil  deeds,  and  now  the  Son 
Of  God  and  man,  while  pride  august  illumes 

His' visage  jubilant,  resumes  his  throne; 

And,  turning  to  his  right  hand,  in  a  tone, 
Mild  as  the  call  of  spring  to  buried  flowers, 

Bland  as  the  mother's  voice  to  the  loved  one 
Her  bosom  cradles,  sweet  as  summer's  showers, 
Securing  hopes  of  harvest,  thus  his  heart  outpours. 

XXXVI. 

"  Oh!  come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  come, 

Inherit  your  estate,  your  just  reward 
Well  earned  receive,  and  in  the  elysian  home, 

From  the  foundations  of  the  world  prepared 

For  you,  live  hence  forever !  for  ye  shared 
Your  pittance  with  my  dearth,  and  when  I  was 

Athirst  your  cruse  of  water,  and  ye  cared 
For  me,  although  a  homeless  exile,  as 
I  sought  your  open  doors,  when  others  let  me  pass. 


THE  LAST  JUDGMENT.  227 

XXXVII. 

"  When  I  was  naked,  ye  with  pity  kind 

Clothed  me,  when  sick  ye  solaced  me,  and  when, 

Falsely  accused,  I  was  in  prison  confined, 
Ye  sent  relief,  and  visited  my  den, 
Deserted  and  despised  by  other  men." 

As  he  to  Sabbath  Rest,  ineffable 

Fruition,  invited  them,  before  their  ken 

He  seemed  converted  into  light,  to  dwell 

Wholly  in  spirit,  grace  and  glory  visible. 

XXXVIII. 

Astounded  and  bewildered  what  to  think, 

The  just  reply,  "  Oh,  Lord !  when  saw  we  Thee 
Hungry,  and  fed  Thee?  thirsty,  and  gave  Thee  drink? 

When  did  we  succor  Thee  in  poverty  ? 

Or  offer  Thee  our  hospitality  ? 
When  clothed  Thy  nakedness  ?  or  when  Thy  bed 

Of  sickness  did  we  visit  ?    or  when  hie 
To  comfort  Thy  distress  in  dungeon  laid  ? 
Or  when  with  sympathy  soothed  we  Thine  aching 
head  ?" 

XXXIX. 

Then  answers  them  the  Judge  with  smiles  divine. 
While  saying  prayers,   their    hearts  are  stilled   in 
peace, 

For  ecstasy  is  mute.     "  Since  it  was  thine 
To  do  this  good  to  one,  the  least  of  these, 
My  brethren  and  disciples,  it  doth  please 

Me  to  apprize  it  as  if  done  to  me: 

Love,  that  a  friend  in  every  creature  sees, 


228  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

Becomes  a  lord  of  immortality, 

And  owns  a  fief  in  Heaven,  a  freehold  in  the  sky." 

XL. 
"  Like  summer,  ye  were  mothers  of  the  poor, 

Like  autumn,  nurses  to  the  sick  and  weak; 
Your  life-thoughts  did  not  shut  Truth  out  of  door, 

And  let  Pride  in;  no  conscious  guilt  your  cheek 

Blanched  while  your  lips  strove  calumnies  to  speak; 
Ye  fainted  not  to  be  sincere  and  true, 

Impregnable  to  vice,  in  trial  meek; 
Ye  suffered  wrong,  and  did  revenge  eschew; 
And  when  afflicted  unrepining  wiser  grew." 

XLI. 
He  beckons,  and  a  row  of  seraphs  lead 

The  elect  away,  while  touched  by  tuneful  hands, 
The  harp  harmonious  and  the.  mellow  reed 

Herald  their  sun-lit  steps  to  flowery  lands; 

The  air  is  serenaded  by  the  bands, 
Ten  thousand  choristers  in  clouds  unseen 

Chant  the  glad  tidings  through  the  topaz  strands, 
Through  the  cerulean,  through  the  hyaline, 
And  where  the  cohorts  pass  is  flamed  with  rainbow 
sheen. 

XLII. 

But  ere  they  leave  the  threshold  of  the  court, 
On  them  their  Arbitrator  casts  a  look 

Of  love  complacent;  then  in  splendors  caught, 
Like  the  lithe  eddies  of  a  purling  brook, 
Or  fluttering  pages  of  a  folding  book, 


THE  LAST  JUDGMENT.  229 

They  rustle  into  bliss  and  disappear; 

And  threw  no  shadow,  as  their  course  they  took 
Through  flowers  and  music,  on  the  diamond  sphere, 
So  pure  their  essence  was,  so  sunny  bright  and  clear. 

XLIII. 
To  where  the  sanctuary  empyrean  burns, 

Primordial  Treasure  House  of  light,  they  wend, 
Where  the  imperial  throne  instinctive  turns 

Its  living  wheels  in  wheels,  fire-eyed  and  bend, 

With  unbeginning  globes,  and  without  end, 
Welkins  stretched  through  infinitudes  of  space; 

Where  sisterhoods  of  worlds  concentric  blend, 
And  suns,  moons,  planets,  meteors,  comets  race 
Through  Heaven  of    Heavens  to  kneel  before  the 
Seat  of  Grace. 

XLIV. 
Then  fixing  a  regard  piteous  though  stern 

Full  on  the  wicked  placed  at  his  left  hand, 
Who  at  his  frown  severe  begin  to  turn 

Confounded  and  abashed,  and  trembling  stand, 

Statues  in  stone,  awaiting  his  command, 
He  thus  arraigns  them:  "  Into  Hell  depart 

Ye  sinners  unrepentant,  to  the  land 
Of  groans  and  howling  darkness,  where  the  smart 
Of  the  undying  Worm  of  Death  shall  sting  your 
heart," 

XLV. 

"  Where  ye  shall  cleanse  in  purifying  flame 
Your  lusts  perverse,  till  penitence  renews 
The  spirit  in  you,  overwhelmed  by  shame, 


230  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

The  sink  of  sin,  and  suffering  subdues 
The  law,  and  pays  to  equity  her  dues : 
For  I  was  clemmed,  and  faint  for  want  of  food, 

And  to  me  starving  ye  did  bread  refuse; 
And  when  to  cool  the  fever  of  my  blood 
A  cup  of  water  asked,  ye  scoffed  with  hauteur  rude." 

XLVI. 

"  I  was  a  stranger,  robbed  and  beaten  sore, 
And  hard  assaulted  by  the  pelting  storm, 

And  on  my  face  ye  heedless  banged  the  door, 
Nor  dressed  my  wounds  with  therapeutic  balm, 
But  spurned  me  from  you  as  some  loathsome 
worm ; 

When  I  was  sick,  ye  strutted  scornful  by, 
As  if  my  sight  would  do  you  grievous  harm ; 

And  when  for  conscience  sake  condemned  to  die, 

Ye  jeered,  and  mocked,  and  laughed  at  my  ex- 
tremity.' ' 

XLVII. 

They  too  surprise  at  the  impeachment  own, 

What  means  their  Censor,  and  this  answer  make: 

"  When  thee  extenuated  had  we  known 

With  drought  or  famine,  and  denied  to  take 
Compassion  on  thee  ?     When  with  sorrows'  ache 

Or  teen  of  sickness  stricken,  or  consigned 
To  durance,  persecuted  for  truth's  sake, 

And  to  thy  sufferings  were  we  deaf  or  blind  ? 

When  did  we  shun  or  spurn  thee  ?  When  were  we 
unkind  ?  " 


THE  LAST  JUDGMENT.  231 

XLVIII. 

He  more  incensed,  this  argument  returns: 
"  Since  unto  them,  my  saints,  ye  did  it  not, 

To  me  ye  have  not  done  it.     Goodness  yearns 
Still  to  do  good;  but  ye  had  quite  forgot 
All  common  sympathy  with  human  lot. 

Incorrigibly  selfish,  ye  shall  have 

For  stars  and  ribbons,  and  the  gauds  ye  sought, 

And  scarlet  pride  so  dear  to  craven  slave, 

The  coronet  of  fire  that  crowns  the  titled  knave." 

XLIX. 
"  Ye  never  envied  virtue,  only  wealth, 

Ye  ne'er  refused  the  ill  that  would  enrich, 
By  murder,  force,  corruption,  fraud,  and  stealth 

Ye  pounced  on  all  within  your  talon's  reach; 

Vultures  that  never  ceased  for  prey  to  screech; 
Crocodiles  that  gulfed  a  parish,  in  your  maw, 

Sucking  the  poor  of  blood,  as  sucks  the  leech : 
Fish  of  the  sea,  birds  of  the  air,  by  law 
Ye  seized,  God's  gift  to  all,  within  your  harpy  claw.'' 

L. 

"  And  yet  by  angel  feet  is  marked  for  you 
A  pathway,  when  ye  shall  'gainst  Death  have 

fought, 

Abjuring  Sin,  whence  ye  the  Isles  may  view, 
Fortunate  Isles,  where  penitents  resort, 
And  moor  beside  the  wharf  of  Heaven's  port. 
Now  Gog,  stand  forth !     Of  murder  thou'rt  accused, 
And  that  thou  didst  'gainst  man  with  Satan  plot, 
12* 


232  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

With  Satan  'gainst  thy  God,  and  hast  abused 
Thy  power,  and  through  the  earth  thy  wolves  and 
vultures  loosed." 

LI. 
"  An  expiation,  almost  infinite, 

In  the  Cimmerian  crucible  of  Hell, 
Dark  with  the  dreadful  of  perpetual  night, 

With  thine  own  peccant  thoughts  alone  to  dwell, 
And  to  thyself  thy  heinous  deeds  to  tell, 
Awaits  thee  for  thy  gross  atrocities, 

Remorseless,  and  thy  frauds  so  terrible; 
Thou  murdered'st  with  thy  heart,  thy  tongue,  thine 

eyes, 

Worse  than  thy  slaughtering  sword  were  thy  hypoc- 
risies." 

LII. 
"Thou  wast  an  alien  spirit  on  the  earth, 

Demon,  scarce  human;  all  thy  world  to  thee 
Was  fastuous  pomp,  all  else  was  nothing  worth : 

Son  of  perdition  and  iniquity ! 

Monster  of  reprobate  humanity ! 
The  curse  of  kingdoms  ruined,  and  the  groan 

Of  nations  massacred,  the  piercing  cry 
Of  widows  and  of  orphans,  left  undone, 
The  suicide's  last  shriek,  have  reached  my  Father's 
Throne." 

LIII. 

"  Hence  shalt  thou,  with  the  suicide's  despair, 

Frantic  seek  death,  and  never  death  shalt  find; 
Waste  with  the  winter  of  the  widow's  care, 


THE  LAST  JUDGMENT.  233 

Snatching  at  hopes,  the  nightmares  of  the  mind, 
That  flit  as  shadows  in  the  starving  wind; 
With  the  sad  orphan's  desolation  pine, 

And  moralize  how  pride  of  power  is  blind; 
Until  thy  fallen  state  to  grace  incline, 
Of  evil  dispossessed,  when  pardon  shall  be  thine." 

LIV. 
"Oh!  hide  me  from  my  shame!"  the  penitent 

Frenzied  implores,  in  miserable  plight; 
"  But  whither  shall  I  fly  from  punishment 

Justly  deserved  ?     Not  darkness  from  Thy  sight 

Can  screen  me;  darkness  is  to  Thee  as  light; 
Thine  eye  is  everywhere.     I  cannot  brook 

The  thunder  of  Thy  brow;  Hell's  blackest  night 
Frights  less  than  Thy  serenity  of  look, 
And  worse  than  penal  torture  stings  Thy  sharp 
rebuke." 

LV. 
"  Thy  lust  was  cruel,  savage  was  thy  rage, 

Fierce  thy  ambition,  careless  what  it  cost 
Of  tribulations  sore  thy  wars  to  wage; 

But  the  worst  crime  for  which  thy  soul  is  lost 

Is  blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Ghost," 
Rejoined  the  Arbiter;  "Yet  to  thine  own 

Liberal  thou  wert,  and  when  in  danger  most 
Most  valiant,  and  though  pompous  on  thy  throne, 
Yet  strict  and  often  just,  which  part  thy  doom  atone." 

LVI. 

"As  for  thee,  Ryno,  because  thou  didst  spur 
Thy  master  to  malicious  hate,  accursed 


234  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

With  bloodshed,  Hell  shall  be  thy  sepulchre; 
Where,  for  the  offense  of  sacrilege,  the  first 
In  magnitude,  exorbitant,  and  the  worst, 

Thou  shalt  be,  until  ages  shall  have  passed, 
In  purgatorial  fires  of  Sheol  immersed, 

And  bleach  and  chasten  in  its  glacial  blast, 

When  thou  shalt  find  a  truce  from  chastisement  at 
last." 

LVII. 

"  Ye  despots,  who  had  trampled  civic  rights 
Under  your  feet,  ye  sultans,  sophis,  czars, 

Whose  quarrels  bred  exterminating  fights, 

Marauding  sheiks,  and  plundering  thanes,  on  wars 
Ever  intent,  against  you  Heaven  bars 

Its  golden  lintels;  on  you  shuts  the  door 
Of  mercy,  nor  the  lictor's  fasces  spares, 

Luxurious  sovereigns,  who  devoured  the  poor, 

And  parasites,  who  preyed  upon  the  people's  store." 

Lvni. 

1 '  Ye  cassocked  servants  of  the  arch-fiend  liar, 

Orthodox  inquisitors,  who  consigned 
Thousands  of  fellow  creatures  to  the  fire, 

To  please  your  malice,  not  to  save  mankind, 

Else  to  perdition  forfeit,  nor  a  kind 
God  that  is  merciful  avenge,  your  boast! 

What  you  awarded  is  to  you  assigned, 
Retributive  prescription,  to  be  tost 
In   livid   flames,   consumed  with  Hell's   obnoxious 
host!" 


THE  LAST  JUDGMENT.  235 

Lix. 

"  Imposters  of  all  sorts,  thou  hierarch, 

Who  cozened  men  by  teaching  fabled  creeds, 

Thou  glozing  demagogue,  and  false  anarch, 
Thou  pander  to  the  lordling's  beastly  deeds, 
Thou  caterer  to  priestcraft's  craving  greeds, 

Thou  pimp  to  kinglet's  lust,  thou  cruel  cheat, 
Who  rifled'st  poverty  of  nature's  needs, 

Thou  pious  hypocrite,  demure  and  sweet, 

Who  gav'st  a  prayer  to  him  who,  hungry,  asked  for 
meat:" 

LX. 

"  Ye  may  have  colleges  and  churches  built, 
Donated  tithes  of  chattels  to  the  poor; 

Ye  may  have  monuments  in  temples  gilt, 

And  carved  pantheons  raised;  but  of  your  store 
Ye  nothing  granted :  if  your  hands  did  shower 

Largess  on  largess,  yet  your  hearts  gave  nought, 
Your  gifts  were  bargains  but  to  gain  you  more; 

To  pillage  and  purloin  was  all  your  thought; 

Down  to  the  infernal  gulf,  all  ye  who  ruin  wrought." 

LXI. 

"  Michael,  lead  thy  patrols  these  evil  hosts 

Of  earthlings  to  escort  to  lethal  Hell, 
Beyond  the  borders  where  the  starry  coasts 

To  seas  of  chaos  trend,  the  ranks  to  swell 

Of  devils  damned,  in  dungeon  caves  to  dwell/' 
A  moment  all  was  still  the  dome  beneath 

Of  vaulted  skies,  silenced  by  terror's  spell, 


236  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

Then  throbbed  the  heart,   and  gasped  the  hurried 

breath, 
And  screamed  the  crowd  aghast,  and  cried  for  instant 

death : 

LXII. 
And  there  were  wailings,  wringings  of  the  hands, 

And  dumb  despair,  of  crushing  hopes  the  wreck, 
The  death  of  death,  as  intercepting  bands 

Of  seraphs  wheeled,  their  vain  escape  to  check, 

And,  closing  on  them,  drove  them  heels  and  neck, 
Down  the  precipitous  descent,  down  deep, 

Unfathomable  chasms;  down  their  ranks  break 
Through  the  crystalline  gates  of  air,  and  leap 
Sheer  in  the  hollow  void,  and  firths  of  chaos  sweep. 

LXIII. 

And  falling  headlong  in  the  mob  were  seen 
Bonzes  and  dervishes,  the  archimage, 

Pope,  cardinal  and  canon,  king  and  queen, 

Archbishop,  chamberlain,  dean,  duke,  count,  page, 
The.  courtly  beauty,  and  the  cloistered  sage, 

Lord  chancellor,  high  judge,  chief  magistrate, 
The  theologian,  for  polemic  rage 

Notorious,  sectarist  for  cleric  hate, 

The  tyrant,  famed  on  earth  for  regions  desolate; 

LXIV. 

The  dastard  pedagogue,  who  children  beat, 
Yet  trembled  at  a  man;  bum-bailiff  vile, 

Who  fawned  upon  some  rector-squire  with  sweet 
Lips,  that  dropped  meanness  as  anointing  oil; 


THE  LAST  JUDGMENT.  237 

The  critic,  who  with  asses'  milk  sucked  bile; 
The  black-mail  editor,  bribed  to  abuse, 

The  wappened  wench,  too  coy  and  prude  to  smile ; 
The  gypsum-vending  baker,  and  the  spruce 
Tapster,   who  Bedlam  sold  in  palsy,   and  madness 
brews. 

LXV. 
There  was  the  Conqueror,  the  bastard  son 

Of  a  long  line  of  pirates,  scion  true 
Of  robbers,  and  of  thieves  the  paragon; 

And  round  him  fell  an  iron-kilted  crew, 

The  bandits,  from  whom  British  nobles  drew 
Lineal  descent,  with  vanity  and  pride 

Boasting  of  bird-claw  hand,  and  blood  that's  blue, 
The  current  that  with  brother's  murder  dyed 
Cain's  arteries,  to  whiten  laundried  in  Hell's  tide. 

LXVI. 
There  was  the  king,  with  lion's  heart  ferocious, 

The  savage,  who  was  tamed  by  poesy, 
Famous  for  paynim  massacres  atrocious, 

Who  yet  could  in  a  lady's  bower  sigh, 

And  lilt  her  charms  in  polished  melody; 
A  tender  troubadour,  a  faithful  knight, 

A  warrior  bold,  and  a  brave  enemy; 
Inflamed  to  cruel  fury  in  the  fight, 
By  turns  a  cooing  dove,  and  then  a  taloned  kite : 

LXVII. 
And  there,  too,  was  his  vicious  brother,  who 

Was  false  to  his  own  country,  and  his  crown, 
To  profligate  ambition  only  true, 


238  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

A  sot,  a  glutton,  and  a  boorish  clown, 
Perfidious  kinsman,  and  rebellious  son; 
The  conqueror  of  Wales,  and  Scotia's  scourge, 

The  vanquisher  of  Gaul,  at  Crescy  won, 
From  out  the  thick  impacted  shapes  emerge, 
As  rolls  the  tide  of  guilt  in  heaving  surge  on  surge. 

LXVIII. 
The  valiant  Harry,  who  at  Agincourt 

Leveled  again  the  chivalry  of  France, 
The  rival  Roses,  with  their  long  escort 

Of  outlawed  barons,  who  on  spear  and  lance 

Their  fortunes  trusted,  in  the  dark  expanse 
Of  perils  plunge;  as  on  the  battle-field, 

Now  dashes  Gloster,  with  a  loathing  glance 
On  Richmond  following,  no  more  to  wield 
Sceptre  or  sword,  and  thrones  on  palace  craft  to  build. 

LXIX. 

Reft  of  his  frippery  and  fatal  lust, 

The  turgid  Tudor,  prone  amid  the  throng 

Sprawls,  as  though  wallowing  in  blood  and  dust; 
And  his  hag  daughters,  mitred  priests  among, 
Cursing  their  counselors  with  evil  tongue : 

The  brutal  Jefferies,  the  ogre-ghoul 
Of  English  law,  glares  frantically  along 

The  reeling  columns,  and  beneath  his  cowl 

Fierce  Torquemada  cowers  amid  the  sinking  scull. 

LXX. 

Stuarts,  obnoxious  for  their  quibbling  lies, 
Equivocating  trust,  and  crooked  zeal, 


THE  LAST  JUDGMENT.  239 

Flounder  through  freezing  snow  and  fire-hail  skies: 
And  he,  their  huge  dread,  of  the  common  weal 
More  than  a  monarch,  with  his  heart  of  steel, 

And  adamantine  hand,  now  shrunken  weak, 

Rushes  headlong  where  squadrons  thickest  wheel, 

And  a  cry,  choked,  or  it  had  been  a  shriek, 

Moans  sternly  wild,  as  though  that  heart  would  burst- 
ing break. 

LXXI. 

There  the  sad  prince,  a  stranger  to  the  land 

He  came  to  save,  still  melancholy  and  wan, 
Feels  he's  an  alien  mid  the  wretched  band; 

Yet  deeds  of  shame  from  better  fate  him  ban. 

And  there  is  he  who  from  his  shadow  ran, 
So  wrinkled  and  decayed;  yet  he  had  been 

In  youthful  prime  the  model  of  a  man, 
The  hired  Eros  of  a  strumpet  quean, 
And  yet  in  feats  of  arms  an  Ares  in  his  sheen. 

LXXII. 

.Swift  as  they  fly  as  swift  the  guard  pursues 

With  whips  of  scorpions,  and  with  stripes  lays  on 
The  howling  she-wolf  of  Bartholomew's 

Infamous  murders,  and  her  zany  son; 

Pizarro,  Innocent,  and  Montfort  run 
Before  the  lashing  thongs  that  crack  of  doom : 

Now  are  avenged  the  "  Children  of  the  Sun/' 
And  Albigensian  slaughters:  but  the  tomb 
Of  Erebus  wide  yawns  the  ruin  to  inhume. 


240  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

LXXIII. 
His  throne  now  leaving,  with  a  brow  demure, 

Yet  proud,  though  meek,  up  to  the  Seat  Supreme, 
Where  sat  Jehovah  in  effulgence  pure, 

And  whence  around  the  rippling  glories  stream, 

And  on  the  faces  of  blest  angels  beam, 
Repairs  the  Judge,  and  thus  his  Sire  divine 

Addresses:  "My  awards  are  just,  I  deem, 
Because  I  sought  Thy  will,  which  still  is  mine, 
And  their  eventual  good  whom  I  to  wrath  consign." 


HELL  AND  HEAVEN. 


CANTO   XII. 


CARCE  was  the  sentence  on  the  Sons  of  Death 
Pronounced,  ere  from  its  spinning  axis  reeled 

pole  sidereal,  thunder's  awful  breath 
Roared  horrid  discord,  martial  trumpets  pealed, 
And  troops  of  angels  in  wide  crescent  wheeled 
Around  the  host  condemned,  in  agony 

Of  curdling  terror,  as  they  saw  revealed 
Hell's  bottomless  perdition,  and  the  sea 
Of  fire  unquenchable,  the  seat  of  misery. 

ii. 

A  hurricane  arose  with  scudding  rack, 

And  naming  typhoons  blew,  and  a  hoarse  voice 

Scraiched  the  death-rattle,  as  the  ruin  black 
Swept  down  the  precipice  amid  the  noise 
Of  demon  laughter  chuckling,  shook  with  joys 

Grim  and  ferocious:  Sin  the  mocking  shout, 
Discomfited,  returns  with  shrieks  and  sighs, 

And  with  her  snaky  tresses  round  about 

Her  shadowy  skull  disheveled,  leads  the  hideous  rout. 


242  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

III. 
Down  from  the  azure  cope  in  the  abyss 

They  headlong  plunge,  urged  by  the  griding  spear, 
The  dart  and  sword  cherubic,  in  the  hiss 

Of  pyramids  of  fire  that  lap  the  air 

And  suck  them  dropping  from  the  hollow  sphere 
Of  skies  disgorging  loads  on  ponderous  loads, 

An  avalanche  of  life,  appalled  with  fear, 
Maelstroms  of  horrors  thick,  by  scorpion  goads 
Driven  to  burning  pits,  Briarean  abodes. 

IV. 

Torrents  of  molten  ore  volcanoes  spout, 

Hell's  sacrificial  altar,  to  a  plain, 
Where  the  ordeal  deluge  winds  about 

Till  it  debouches  in  the  lake  of  pain : 

Millions  of  ghosts  within  the  reeking  main 
Are  flung  to  welter  in  the  penal  waves, 

Soddered  and  brazed,  in  durance  to  remain, 
And  thence  removed  to  freeze  in  icy  caves, 
For  ages  numberless  to  be  their  prison  graves. 


And  whirlpools  churn  the  currents  when  the  surges, 
Spent  with  their  rage,  would  settle  to  a  calm, 

And  the  conflagrant  blast  tempestuous  urges 
The  lambent  tide  with  bluster  to  alarm 
The  spirits  free  from  momentary  harm : 

None  can  in  anodyne  lethean  rest, 

None  in  forgetfulness  can  taste  the  balm 

Of  sleep's  nepenthe,  by  the  rollers  pressed, 

That  lash  them  with  their   out-stretched  arms    and 
foaming  crest. 


HELL  AND  HEAVEN.  243 

VI. 

Or  when  the  anger  of  the  Omnipotent 

Kindles  afresh,  with  sevenfold  fury  blows 
The  torrid  turmoil,  and  the  flaw  is  sent 

In  red  hot  hail,  and  showers  of  frozen  snows, 

Inflicting  inextinguishable  woes, 
With  stings  of  anguish,  until  then  unknown, 

And  plagues,  unfelt  before,  which  rack  with  throes,. 
Within,  without,  and  tame  and  harrow  down 
The  choler  of  their  pride  when  too  rebellious  grown. 

VII. 

Almost  the  darkness  simmering  can  be  heard, 
And  the  thick  twilight  felt  as  grains  of  sand; 

The  heat  smarts  sore,  as  a  sharp  trenchant  sword, 
A  blister  on  the  brain,  or  skull  trepanned, 
Or  quivering  heart  torn  out  by  bloody  hand, 

Or  tingling  nerve  or  marrow's  piercing  thrill: 
The  seething  ocean  and  the  smoking  land 

Curses  and  groans  and  lamentations  fill 

And  "Sabacthani  "  loud  resounds  from  plain  and  hill. 

VIII. 

The  very  air  is  saturated  blaze, 

And  droves  of  scyllas  haunt  the  death  domain; 
Hope  turns  her  back  with  shuddering  amaze, 

Love,  faithful  still  before,  now  shuns  the  den, 

And  leaves  the  helpless  victim  to  complain; 
No  service  renders  Friendship  to  the  wretch; 

Despair,  Remorse,  and  Fear,  alone  remain; 
And  though  to  centuries  the  calends  stretch, 
Yet  no  respite  for  them,  and  no  release  they  fetch. 


244  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

IX. 

There  is  no  fellowship  of  Sin  with  Evil, 
No  sympathy  of  Suffering  with  Pain, 

But  devil  hates  intense  his  neighbor  devil, 
And  man  abominates  with  haught  disdain, 
Who  from  his  busy  rancor  flies  in  vain; 

All  find  a  sort  of  dull  narcotic  rest 
In  worrying  one  another  in  the  main 

Of  rueful  tribulation.     How  unblest 

That  dole  should  follow  dole  with  such  malignant 
zest! 

x. 

But  the  worst  torture  of  the  gnawing  worm 
Is  shame  and  self-reproach,  that  represent 

Their  past  transgressions  living  to  alarm 
The  sentry  of  the  conscience,  impotent 
To  struggle  with  obtrusive  memories  sent, 

Inseparable  from  guilt,  its  native  bane. 
Its  ministers  uncouth  of  chastisement: 

So  dreams  disjoint  us  paralysed  with  pain, 

When  wassail  and  debauch  the  strength  corporeal 
drain. 

XI. 

Here  is  amerced  and  punished  every  deed, 
In  crime's  dark  catalogue,  a  monstrous  brood; 

Envy  that  made  his  prosperous  rival  bleed, 
Revenge  that  thirsted  for  offending  blood, 
And  gentle  love  the  cause  of  deadly  feud  ; 

The  lust  of  conquest  and  of  lordly  power, 
Converting  states  into  a  solitude; 


HELL  AND  HEAVEN.  245 

And  rage  fanatic,  that  would  curses  shower, 
And  persecute  and  kill  a  bigot  church  to  dower. 


Here  lingers  in  the  pang  impaled  of  death 
The  murderer;  for,  still  ordained  to  live, 

He  gasps  convulsive,  with  expiring  breath, 
Without  the  hope  of  dying,  to  survive 
For  ages,  but  never  from  his  eyes  to  drive 

The  Shadow  gaunt,  who  stealing  to  his  side, 
Brandishes  aloft  his  barbed  dart  to  give 

The  fatal  blow,  then  stabs  the  homicide, 

Till  from  his  breast  wells  out  the  palpitating  tide. 

XIII. 

Accoutred  in  tasselled  gown  is  Shalmaneser, 
And  coiffed  in  chevelure  ot  plaited  rows; 

And  busked  in  purple,  many  an  orient  Caesar; 
And  midst  them  the  Chaldean  conqueror  goes, 
With  moonstruck  phrenzy  on  his  shaggy  brows, 

The  king  who  fed  on  grass,  whose  brutal  face 
Still  shows  his  beast's  heart:  from  impending 
blows 

Through  the  fire-waves  distractedly  they  race, 

While  threatening  idols  born  of  their  own  thoughts 
them  chase. 

XIV. 

From  out  an  opened  flood-gate  furious  sweep 
The  wraiths  of  murdered  babes,  and  swift  pursue 

A  crowned  and  sceptred  quarry  through  the  deep 
Sluices  of  scalding  blood,  with  wild  halloo, 


246  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

As  linnets  hunt  the  hawk,  whose  bill  they  rue: 
They  shoot  the  skies,  dart  down  abysses  hollow; 

Fear  strides  the  van,  with  nightmare  and  a  crew 
Of  hideous  lamias,  ouphes  and  urchins  follow, 
Till  quagmire's  jaws  cerberean  them  benighted 
swallow. 

xv. 

Where  down  a  precipice,  a  cascade  falls 

Of  flames  stupendous  dashing  on  their  way, 

In  a  hot  brew  of  foam,  o'er  'beetling  walls, 
Niagaras  of  fires,  Hell's  auto-da-fe, 
The  thieves  are  forced  in  the  fermenting  spray, 

Through  swirling  linns  and  rapids  boiling  round, 
And  eddies  breaking  on  the  shingly  bay; 

While  earthquake  mine  beneath  the  silted  ground. 

And  burst  through  iron  caves  with  a  Titanic  bound. 

XVI. 

Here  are  decreed  to  suffer,  who  on  earth 

Had  orphans  spoiled,  and  filched  the  widow's 

store, 
And  left  them  languishing,  in  daily  dearth, 

To  fat  on  fare  would  starve  the  parish  poor; 

Who  to  the  midnight  burglar  had  the  door 
Oped  for  a  bribe;  of  bankrupts  many  there, 

Who  bartered  honest  sums  to  swindle  more, 
And  cheats  who  'd  dealt  in  counterfeited  ware, 
Compelled  to  breathe  of  sublimated  gold  the  air. 

XVII. 

The  railway  kings  crowned  with  their  wreaths  of 

smoke, 
And  bankers  flying  from  dishonored  notes, 


HELL  AND  HEAVEN.  247 

And  fraudful  audits;  ravishers  who  broke, 

Wild  dogs,  the  hurdles  of  the  shepherd's  cotes, 
And  ruthless  ripped  the  gold-fleeced  lambkin's 
throats, 

Bloodhounds  of  Mammon;  mothers  who  had  taught 
Their  daughters  sin  to  fill  their  own  flesh-pots, 

And  pimps  and  bauds,  who  had  for  lucre  wrought 

Wantonness,  and  inveigled  youth,  to  ruin  brought. 


The  knavish  proctor,  who  had  titles  forged, 
Self-righteous  priest,  too  snug  to  mind  his  fold, 

The  doctor,  who  on  fees  of  death  had  gorged, 
All  who  had  cooked  accounts,  or  sweated  gold, 
And  measled  creeds  for  sound  religion  sold; 

Uncles,  who  had  their  nephew's  portion  taken 
By  legal  quibble  or  manouver  bold, 

Fathers  who  had  their  helpless  sons  forsaken, 

And  sons  their  aged  sires  all  to  these  torments  waken. 

XIX. 

Fast  by  through  smoke  is  seen  a  canon  wild, 
Whose  brow  a  monumental  calf  of  gold 

Surmounts,  the  same,  whose  image  had  defiled 
Decrepid  nations,  who  debased  had  told 
Allegiance  sordid  to  the  bovine  mold; 

At  Thebes  and  Memphis  first  with  vows  implored, 
And  then  at  Horeb  worshipped  of  old, 

But  now  is  Christendom's  incarnate  word, 

The  gilded  lie  at  Court,  in  change,  and  church  adored. 

13 


248  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

xx. 

But  who  is  this  most  miserable  man? 

Tis  Hudson,  who  in  flesh  had  passed  to  be 
A  saint  among  the  puritanic  clan, 

Who  patronize  a  trading  Deity, 

And  at  his  mercenary  markets  buy 
Exclusive  favors;  who  a  trumpet  sound 

When  they're  accouched  of  still-born  charity, 
Or  to  their  fetish  tabernacle  bound; 
Calumnious  Pharisees,  who  worth  intrinsic  wound. 

XXI. 

\Vith  unctuous  self-praise — "  I  thank  thee,  Lord,  that  I 
Am  not  as  that  poor  penitent  who  sits, 

And  prays  in  secret;  but  I  publicly 

Adore  Thee  in  Thy  sanctuary,  where  meets 
Thine  only  true  church,  who  my  largess  greets 

With  loud  applause,  without  suspicious  qualms: 
As  the  lamb,  trustful,  to  the  butcher  bleats, 

So  the  world  bleats  to  him,  who,  giving  alms, 

Prepares  to  stab  them,  singing  philanthropic  psalms." 

XXII. 

"  Judas  betrayed  his  master  with  a  kiss, 

And  sold  him  to  the  priests,  but  I  would  sell 
The  priests  themselves,  our  Bethel,  all  that  is 

Revered  and  holy,  Heaven  itself,  to  Hell; 

It  is  my  business,  which  I  know  full  well. 
Skillful  in  wily  arts,  I  glibly  make 

Hypocrisy  upon  my  tongue  to  dwell, 
And  guilty  vice  the  mask  of  virtue  take, 
And  am  the  thing  I'm  not  for  my  own  profit's  sake." 


HELL  AND  HEAVEN.  249 

XXIII. 

"At  every  mission  meeting  of  our  guild 
To  spread  the  gospel  into  foreign  lands, 

I'm  chairman,  chapels  for  the  poor  I  build 
That  pay  me  ten  per  cent.,  teetotal  bands, 
And  orphan  schools  employ  my  picking  hands, 

And  hospitals  and  magdalens;  I  am 

Constructor  of  fine  ropes  of  twisted  sands, 

Contractor  for  all  works  that  are  a  flam, 

The  president  or  director  bribed  of  every  sham." 

XXIV. 

"What  if  I  ruin  thousands?     I  don't  hear 

The  widow's  wail,  and  orphan's  whining  moan; 

The  threatenings  of  the  crowd  I'll  learn  to  bear, 
And  soon  will  get  accustomed  to  their  groan, 
While  in  my  coach  I'll  drive  to  Windsor's  Throne." 

Such  was  the  cant  discourse,  on  earth  the  boast 
Of  this  predacious  reptile,  doomed  to  won 

The  sewers  where  his  despicable  ghost 

Gropes  through  the  dark  in  vain  to  search  for  treas- 
ures lost. 


Whence  is  that  scream  terrific  that  I  hear, 

Echoed  by  howling  caverns  ?     Hark !  it  sweeps, 

Soaring  and  dying  in  the  foggy  air; 

Low  as  the  call  of  storms  it  moaning  creeps, 
Loud  as  the  roaring  cataract  it  leaps, 

And  bursts  in  thunder  claps!     Again  the  shriek 
Frightens  all  hell.     It  is  a  ghost  that  weeps, 

Who  fain  the  memory  of  the  past  would  seek 

To  sever  from  the  thoughts  that  retribution  wreak. 


250  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

XXVI. 

"  Oh!  why  pursue  me  thus  ?"  The  phantom  cries, 
"  Oh!  why  pursue  me  with  thy  pale  wan  face, 

Smiling  reproaches  on  me  ?  with  thine  eyes 
Look  not  so  on  me !     In  thy  form  I  trace, 
Though  wasted  now,  thy  beauty's  virgin  grace, 

Soiled  by  my  lying  love  and  guilty  faith — 
Curse  me,  and  leave  me  to  deserved  disgrace ! 

Blast  me,  but  bless 'me  not,  with  thy  sweet  breath, 

Whose  lust  abandoned  thee  to  suicidal  death!" 

XXVII. 

And  wild  again  the  yell  ascended  high, 
And  silenced  every  other  sound  of  fear. 

But  now  behold  the  alcoholic  sty, 

As  from  the  fosse  the  pungent  vapors  clear, 
Engendering  plagues,  what  loathsome  brutes  ap- 
pear, 

In  death  delirious.     Gangs  of  fiends  fill 

The  brimming  flagons  from  the  dripping  mere, 

That  filters  solvent  flames  as  from  a  still, 

And  give  the  ghosts  to  drink  the  caustic  sure  to  kill. 

XXVIII. 

A  drop  of  water  on  the  finger's  tip 

In  that  hour's  horrid  agony  were  worth 
To  lave  the  burning  eschar  of  the  lip 

All  the  rich  gems  and  treasures  of  the  earth; 

And  as  they  swill  loud  bursts  the  demon  mirth, 
Laughter  uproarious,  gibes  and  fleering  taunts, 

That  loose  the  hanging  cliffs  throughout  the  girth, 


HELL  AND  HEAVEN.  251 

Where  Tophet  walls  her  melancholy  haunts, 
And  Death  through  livid  gloom  his  flaming  banner 
flaunts. 

XXIX. 

In  dizzy  circles,  caught  by  eddying  winds, 
And  tost  unceasingly,  till  senseless  numbed, 

Through  whirling  ashes  drifts  the.  Liar,  and  finds 
No  intermission  to  his  sentence,  doomed 
To  gyrate,  in  a  cyclone's  vortex  tombed, 

Blown  by  the  storm  aloft  athwart  the  sky, 
Unpitied,  unreprieved,  till  are  consumed 

The  tardy  hours  throughout  eternity, 

When  exorcising  prayers  lay  his  iniquity. 

XXX, 

Vile  is  the  factor  of  the  lazar-house, 
Where  huddled  in  pollution  spirits  lay, 

Repulsive,  rank,  obscene,  and  hideous, 
Cisterns  of  foul  corruption  in  decay, 
Once  sweet  and  balmy  as  the  bloom  of  May, 

Their  father's  joy,  their  mother's  dearest  pride, 
Now  shivering  and  shrinking  in  dismay: 

These  are  the  harlots  who  had  crucified 

All  sense  of  honest  shame,  and  had  adulterous  died. 

XXXI. 

Like  corpses  that  have  green  and  yellow  grown 
These  trulls  have  turned,  to  flabby  wrinkles  worn, 

Or  with  a  blotched  and  bloated  visage  blown, 
Whose  amber  tresses  leprosy  has  shorn, 
Whose  vermeil  cheek  the  mangy  tetter  torn, 


252  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

And  on  whose  bosoms  Ophiusas  crawl, 

Besmearing  charms  once  fair  as  blushing  morn, 
Till  Dian  swat  with  heat  venereal, 
When  sighs  of  rapture  melted  into  tears  of  gall. 

XXXII. 

Over  the  Stygian  lake  in  sooty  air, 

On  wings  of  immolating  hatred  fly, 
To  battle  in  the  incandescent  glare, 

Voluminous  armies  through  the  sweltry  sky, 

That  heaves  with  sedulous  hostility: 
The  rolling  squadrons  serried  columns  smash, 

And  deadly  weapons  in  the  combat  ply, 
With  oaths  and  mutual  imprecations  lash 
Their  spectral  steeds  of  flame,  and  on  each  other  dash. 

XXXIII. 

They  drink  the  fiery  samiel,  they  stamp  the  cloud 
Till  struck  ignited  in  their  thirst  for  blood, 

And  mid  the  swindging  smoke  of  thunders  loud, 
Savaged  with  slaughter,  in  the  dubious  feud 
For  ages  struggle:  where  their  cohorts  stood 

In  centuries  gone  by  there  still  will  stand 
In  arms  arrayed,  the  ghastly  multitude, 

Still  to  contend  in  air  as  erst  on  land, 

Under  some  human  king  or  conqueror's  command. 

xxxiv. 
In  the  commotion  Attila  and  Tamerlane 

Lead  their  battalions,  and  Sesostris  fights 
With  Alaric,  the  Goth,  o'er  mounds  of  slain, 

Devoured  by  screaming  flocks  of  phantom  kites; 

Again  the  tatooed 'cannibal  delights 


HELL  AND  HEAVEN.  255 

To  quaff  from  simulacred  skulls  the  gore 

Of  fallen  foes;  again  the  mildew  blights 
The  ghosts  of  harvests  on  the  blasted  shore, 
Struck  with  the  curse  of  plagues  and  grinding  famine 
sore. 

xxxv. 

Beyond  the  slime  pits  and  the  sleechy  moats 
Extend  \vide  realms  of  ever-during  gloom, 

Where  a  blear  light,  that  blinds  the  ether,  floats, 
And  meteors  moony-eyed  the  night  illume, 
But  never  suns,  or  stars,  or  planets  loom ; 

There  mountain  ranges  in  sierras  rise, 

Sterile  with  ochreous  ore  and  scurfy  bloom, 

With  glacier  summits  to  the  boreal  skies, 

An  unpropitious  spot  of  gelid  miseries. 

xxxvi. 
Here  are  enjoined  in  spasm  to  be  congealed 

False  witnesses  who'd  sworn  a  life  away, 
Like  mammoths  in  Siberian  ice  concealed, 

With  stounds  of  pain  to  shiver  in  dismay, 

Crystaled  to  living  breme  without  decay; 
And  as  the  snow  flakes  silent  fall  and  slow, 

In  swan-down  swimming  in  the  dusky  ray, 
Dream -peopled  with  their  victims  in  the  throe 
Of  felon's  death,  they  feel  themselves  the  felon's  woe. 

XXXVII. 

Here  are  confined  the  kinsmen  who  had  put 
Their  relatives  within  the  madhouse  den, 

That  with  their  patrimony  they  might  glut 
Their  appetite  for  power,  or  lust,  or  gain, 


254  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

To  be  afflicted  with  demented  brain; 
And  all  abettors  in  the  fiendish  deed, 

Physicians  bribed  to  swear  the  sane  insane, 
Wardens  suborned,  police  and  valets  feed, 
And  all  the  callous  rogues  who'd  learned  the  devil's 
creed. 

XXXVIII. 

The  spume  of  salivating  simony 

Here  candies,  who  had  piety  blasphemed, 

By  Belial  surplicing  with  sanctity, 

Who  even  God  to  wheedle  slyly  schemed, 
With  nothing  that  his  venal  heart  redeemed : 

Ribbed  in  the  burning  rime  of  winter  snell, 
Till  but  an  icicle  the  imposter  seemed, 

Was  Gog,  imprisoned  in  this  saddest  Hell, 

His  slogan  now  no  longer  fierce  and  terrible. 

XXXIX. 

A  moan  scarce  audible  the  creeping  air, 
Crisping  to  hoar-frost,  as  a  feather  stirs, 

A  sob  that  swoons  to  sighing  in  despair, 
As  when  a  fly  in  cobweb  tangled  whirs, 
Or  his  torn  shard  a  wounded  beetle  birrs: — 

"  O  for  a  moment  of  the  raging  fire 

That  kindles  life,  although  it  nature  blurs, 

One  red-hot  blast  to  breathe,  and  then  expire, 

Rather  than  fossilize  in  petrifying  mire !  " 

XL. 

Here,  coffined  too  beside  him,  Ryno  lies 
Conscious  of  life,  yet  feeling  he  is  dead, 


HELL  AND  HEAVEN.  255 

Throughout  one  lengthened  day  of  heavenly  skies, 
Marked  by  the  zodiac's  gnomon  o'er  his  head, 
While  the  remotest  constellations  tread 

Their  paths  orbicular,  till  zoic  rays 

Traveling  for  eons,  on  him  torpid  shed, 

Near  moribund,  a  vivifying  blaze, 

And  thaw  the  mausoleum  that  on  him  ponderous  lays. 

XLI. 

When  Justice  punishes  His  rod  reforms! 

To  punish  everlastingly  would  be 
Not  to  abolish  sin  in  wretched  worms, 

But  leave  them  hopeless  in  its  custody, 

And  alienated  with  severity, 
To  harden,  not  improve,  and  make  of  Him 

Who  is  Love,  Mercy,  Truth,  and  Charity, 
A  Saturn,  Juggernaut,  or  Moloch  grim, 
Whom  the  ascetic  misanthrope  delights  to  limn. 

XLII. 

Shall  God  be  more  vindictive  and  less  just 

Than  man,  whose  unrelenting  polity 
Measures  his  finite  wrath,  and  curbs  his  lust 

Of  rigid  vengeance  ?     With  thy  cruelty 

Charge  not  thy  Maker!  with  thy  bigotry 
Doom  not  thy  brother!  but  let  humble  prayer, 

The  child  of  penitence,  thy  herald  be, 
Thy  burden  to  the  Throne  of  Grace  to  bear, 
Thy  "miserere,"  but  of  Shimei's  fate  beware! 

13* 


256  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

XLIII. 

The  devils  their  probationary  term 

Imposed  propitiate,  constrained  to  endure 

The  sateless  fang  of  the  "  Undying  Worm," 
Till  fire  and  frost  anneal  to  metal  pure 
The  smelted  ore,  when  frost  and  fire  immure 

No  longer  instincts  drawn  to  native  skies; 

Then  hopes,  like  rising  stars,  to  Heaven  allure 

The  aspiration  of  their  sympathies, 

And  dreams  of  joy  foreshadow  their  realities. 

XLIV. 
The  pulse  of  every  unbecoming  thought 

Has  ceased  to  beat,  no  longer  lowers  a  frown 
Darkening  the  cheek  of  death,  the  ill  they  sought 

They  now  would  shun,  cast-iron  smiles  are  flown, 

And  the  bronze  sneer,  for  they  are  honest  grown; 
The  wedding-day  of  Heaven  and  Hell  is  come, 

The  storms  of  Winter  far  away  have  blown, 
And  as  the  cankered  buds  to  flowrets  bloom, 
Life  as  a  new  braird  springs  beyond  their  opened 
tomb. 

XLV. 

They  change  their  smutty  flames  for  solar  beams, 

While  a  delicious  spirit  in  them  glides; 
Their  errors  moulted,  through  the  dawning  gleams, 

Fledged  with  new  faith,  they  skim  the  rippling 
tides 

Of  ocean-worlds,  led  by  a  voice  that  guides, 
Voice  of  the  Morning  Star,  to  Paradise, 

Where  the  Apocalypse  of  Love  abides: 


HELL  AND  HEAVEN.  257 

They  upward  gaze  at  Thee,  Oh  God,  with  sighs, 
And  down  Thou  smiling  look'st  on  them  with  gracious 
eyes. 

XLVI. 

Up  to  the  glory  of  the  Eternal  King, 

Up  where  the  skies  are  melting  into  light, 

Hell,  disenthralled  from  death,  on  eyrie  wing 

Springs  from  the  dens  of  shame  and  caves  of  night, 
Till  ope  the  pearl-gates  on  their  dazzled  sight: 

Omnipotence  they  view  ensphered  in  bliss, 
Effusing  Urim  Thummim  of  delight, 

That  gladdens  as  it  gilds  the  dark  abyss, 

And  Sin  emparadised  leaves  Hell's  necropolis. 

XL  VII. 

"  Let  there  be  Light!  "  said  the  Creative  Power; 

"  Let  there  be  Love!"  commands  Preserving 

Grace; 
And  from  celestial  roses  falls  a  shower 

From  cassia,  myrrh,  and  aloes,  on  each  face, 

Of  heart-bloom  through  the  theatre  of  space : 
This,  this  is  Life,  and  not  the  tomb-like  shade, 

When  human  souls  on  sad  earth  ran  their  race, 
We  but  begin  to  live  when  we  are  laid 
In  the  sweet  tomb  of  rest,  in  bridal  robes  arrayed. 

XLVIII. 
They  Him  discern  in  spirit  as  He  is 

To  spirits  visible,  without  a  veil, 
Emblazed  with  beatific  sanctities 

That  shrine  excessive  Godhead :  senses  quail 


258  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

Before  the  vision,  sight  and  hearing  fail, 
And  they  would  sink  to  primal  nothingness, 

But  that  the  effluent  virtue  they  inhale, 
The  Real  Presence,  strengthens  feebleness, 
And  in  that  trance  they  win  immortal  happiness. 

XLIX. 

Eternities  of  bliss  are  hence  their  own; 

They  cannot  speak,  but  only  feel  their  joy, 
Like  the  electric  touch  of  the  loved  one, 

The  incalculable  depth  of  ecstasy, 

Enchantment  of  a  Heavenly  faery: 
Their  souls  now  penetrate  the  soul  of  things 

Farther  than  ever  telescope  can  see ; 
They  love  all  life,  and  soaring  on  the  wings 
Of  reason,  leave  behind  infirm  imaginings. 

L. 

Hence  angels,  men,  and  demons  brothers  are, 
The  children  of  One  Parent  Good,  who  guards 

All  from  the  lapse  to  sin:  from  star  to  star 
His  Omnipresent  Eye  no  world  discards 
Because  'tis  evil;  but  all  Heaven-wards 

They  tend  to  Him  together,  and  the  highest 
Life  is  the  consciousness  of  His  regards, 

Most  perfect  that  which  is  to  Him  the  nighest, 

And  from  Thy  Mercy  Seat,  well  pleased,  to  all  Thou 
criest: — 

LI. 

"  My  Holy  Tabernacle  is  with  you, 
And  I  will  tarry  with  you  here,  and  ye 


HELL  AND  HEAVEN.  259 

With  hearts  confiding,  and  with  conscience  true, 
Shall  be  aneled  with  Chrism  of  Charity, 
Still  to  be  better,  still  to  wiser  be, 

And  death  shall  not  be  known  here  any  more, 
For  death  is  swallowed  up  in  victory, 

And  Anger  on  you  shall  not  shut  the  door: 

Is  not  My  Pity  infinite,  as  is  My  Power  ? " 

LII. 
"  Too  just  to  cruel  be,  too  merciful 

Without  reclaiming  to  correct,  I  am 
The  Inexhaustible  of  Love,  still  full, 
.    Though  always  giving.     How  could  Justice  damn 

Crimes  expiated;  faults  atoned  condemn 
To  retribution's  fiery  glaive  forever  ? 

Your  faith  no  longer  trials  shall  overwhelm; 
Bat  ye  shall  drink  the  waters  of  the  river, 
And  eat  the  bread  of  Life,  of  which  I  am  the  Giver." 

LIII 
"  I  made  you  not  to  make  you  miserable, 

Nor  fashioned  ye  to  be  the  prey  of  death ! 
That  were  inequitable,  intolerable: 

To  censure  and  upbraid  with  hostile  breath, 

And  castigate  with  unforgiving  wrath, 
Is  not  Love's  office,  who  indulgent  loves 

His  fallen  children,  and  forever  hath 
His  mercy  in  remembrance;  He  improves 
Commisserating  whom  His  chastisement  reproves." 

LIV. 

"Oh!  taste  and  see  that  I,  the  Lord,  am  good! 
If  the  Creator  of  all  life,  yet  still 


260  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

Created  in  my  own  similitude  ; 
Of  all  I  am  the  Father,  to  fulfill 
A  father's  part,  and  not  the  soul  to  kill, 

Infanticidal,  with  the  penalty 
Of  everlasting,  unmitigated  ill, 

Only  conceived  by  man's  infirmity: 

I  knew  that  ye  were  dust,  and  could  not  sunshine  be.' 

LY. 

"My  fan  has  purged  Hell's  floor,  the  winnowed 
wheat 

I've  stacked  within  my  granary,  but  spurned 
The  chaff  as  worthless;  with  the  Paraclete 

I  have  baptised  you  clean  till  ye  have  turned 

Pure  as  the  gold  refined  that's  seven  times  burned: 
Ye  are  alive  who  were  in  sin  once  dead; 

The  lost  are  found;  the  Prodigal's  returned 
Back  to  his  Father's  House,  whence  he  had  fled: 
Clothe  him  with  purple  robes,  and  crown  his  sacred 
head." 

LVI. 

Thus  from  His  cloud  of  light  in  glory  shrined, 
Expressed  His  love  dimensionless  the  Lord, 

Beyond  all  thought  unutterably  kind: 

The  Grace  of  smiling  skies,  collateral  Word, 
Beneficent,  once  flesh,  his  victor's  sword 

Presenting  low,  thus  answered : — "  How  benign 
Is  the  enormous  boon  which  we  have  heard 

Thy  lips  pronounce!  in  bliss  how  boundless  Thine 

Unintercepted  bounty!  Glad,  I  now  resign," 


HELL  AND  HEAVEN.  261 

LVII. 

"  Since  Death  is  overcome,  and  Sin  subdued, 
My  throne  and  sceptre  and  the  rule  restore 

To  me  entrusted  of  the  true  and  good, 
The  excellent  of  earth,  who  patient  bore 
Through  trials  testimony  to  the  power 

Of  Love  no  persecution  could  appal, 
And  lived  in  vestal  virtue  evermore : 

Again  I'm  subject  unto  Thee,  and  shall 

With  all  be  subject  that  Thou  mayst  be  All  in  All." 

LVII  I. 

"  Salvation  to  our  God  which  sitteth  on 

The  Seat  of  Mercy,  and  unto  the  Lamb ! " 
Respond  the  saints  around  the  living  Throne; 

"  Blessing  and  honor  to  Thy  holy  name! 

Glory  and  thanksgiving  unto  him  who  came 
From  Thee  Thy  Prophet  unto  us  our  Friend, 

Our  faults  to  cancel  and  repeal  our  shame ! 
Before  the  footstool  of  Thy  Grace  we  bend, 
And  laud  Thy  wisdom,  love,  and  power  without  end." 

LIX. 

Now  the  grand  secret  absolute  of  truth, 
The  Secret  Name  's  disclosed;  now  love  becomes 

Their  very  life,  etherealized  in  youth, 
That  with  the  beautiful  of  holy  blooms, 
Which  sin,  the  canker-worm,  no  more  consumes; 

For  Love  is  strength  divine,  since  God  is  Love ! 
Each  heart  a  sacrificial  altar  fumes 

For  others'  peace,  and  Innocence,  the  Dove, 

No  longer  dreads  the  lurking  Snake  of  Eden's  grove. 


262  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 


If  fears  inspired  the  thoughts  of  those  who  lived 
In  mortal  clay,  hopes  are  henceforth  the  dreams 

Of  souls  evangelized,  who  death  survived, 
Repentant  and  respited;  now  with  beams 
They  shine  illustrious  from  the  crystal  streams 

Of  Goodness,  never  but  immaculate; 

And  as  the  bright  quintessence  on  them  teems, 

Demons  burst  from  their  chrysalis  of  hate, 

And,  crawled  from  sin's  cocoon,  men  rise  regenerate. 

LXI. 
Love  drapes  their  world  with  beauty:  here  to  breathe 

Is  rapture,  here  to  feel  is  perfect  bliss, 
And  here  to  think  is  knowledge,  truth,  and  faith. 

Is  God  a  myth  ?     Is  Heaven  a  mirage  ?     Is 

Death  but  the  Life's  last,  lingering,  parting  kiss, 
Ere  H  dissolve  to  nothing,  or  a  shade 

Haunting  the  catacombs  or  the  abyss 
Beyond  thi§  terrene  orb  ?     So  the  fool  said, 
In  pride  of  learning,  which  is  wisdom's  masquerade. 

LXII. 

Behold  descending  from  the  plastic  sky 

The  New  Jerusalem,  whose  light  divine 
Flows  as  a  Fountain  from  the  Throne  on  High, 

In  silver  streamers  as  auroras  shine, 

Or  golden  glitter  of  aventurine; 
The  walls  and  turret  battlements  around 

With  coronals  adorned,  a  jeweled  mine, 
Steeples  with  diamonds,  domes  with  rubies  crowned, 
And  cupolas  with  chrysolite  and  agate  bound. 


HELL  AND  HEAVEN.  263 

LXIII. 

Wide  sloping  uplands  hem  the  city  in 

With  zones  of  verdure  in  many  a  fringed  fold; 

Such  scenes  as  in  our  dreams  we  may  have  seen; 
And,  sunned  in  gladness,  hill,  and  dell,  and  wold 
Float  in  an  atmosphere  that  flows  with  gold; 

A  wilderness  of  bloom  with  manna  dews 
The  fields  impearl,  the  hazy  beaches  hold 

Oceans  of  dreamy  islets,  whither  fuse 

The  amber  tide  and  rosy  mist  in  blended  hues. 

LXIV. 
Soft  soothing  airs  fan  with  their  downy  plume, 

Scented  with  flowered  ambrosia,  summer  seas; 
There  's  holy  music  in  the  zephyr's  hum, 

The  dimple  of  the  wavelet  sings  of  peace: 

Here  spirits  meditate  their  phantasies 
Through  the  repose  serene  of  Sabbath  hours; 

Or  loll  on  banks  of  asphodel  at  ease, 
Where  streams  of  nacre  glide  by  emerald  bowers, 
Rivers  of  Bliss  that  lap  the  foot  of  starry  towers. 

LXV. 
No  noxious  plants  nor  thorny  shrubs  grow  there, 

Nor  drastic  sap  corrosive  oozes  out 
Venom,  but  precious  gums  and  balsams  rare 

Distil  the  Trees  of  Life,  and  shed  about 

Vermilion  fruitage,  sapid  to  the  gout, 
Luscious  to  smell,  alluring  to  the  sight; 

No  midnight  revel,  and  no  tempest  rout 
Inspiring,  but  the  sense  of  dulcet  light, 
And  consciousness  existence  is  unmixed  delight. 


264  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

LXVI. 

This  is  our  Father's  House,  where  spiritual 
Embodied  shapes,  in  snooded  sunbeams  sweet, 

Through  viridescent  park  and  floral  hall 
Perambulate,  with  concourse  of  blest  feet, 
And  foes  on  earth  as  friends  in  Heaven  meet: 

They  dive  the  gulfs,  they  winnow  the  abyss, 
And  as  they  shave  the  clouds  each  other  greet; 

With  veins  of  lightning  run  in  giddy  bliss, 

And  everywhere  they  go  they  find  new  pleasure  is. 

LXVI  I. 

They  bathe  in  moonshine  dew  and  saffron  fire, 

They  quaff  the  aeromel  of  rainbow-showers, 
The  violet  breath  of  virgin  spring  respire, 

And  on  the  otto  suck  of  odorous  flowers; 

They're  clothed  in  light,  and  lodge  in  rose-bloom 

bowers; 
And  wonder  at  their  bliss,  not  as  on  earth, 

A  glimpse  of  summer  set  in  winter  hours, 
But  the  whole  photosphere  of  moral  worth, 
A  Heaven  star-sweet  of  love,  a  Paradise  of  mirih. 

LXVIII. 

4 

Now  unimpressionable  to  attractive  force, 
Past  infinite  of  space  the  spirits  wend 

With  inconceivable  dispatch  their  course, 
Omniscience  to  interpret  without  end, 
Wherever  embassies  of  love  them  send : 

The  silence  that  was  never  spelled  of  death 
Articulates  what  never  mortal  penned, 

Of  archetypes  primordial  communeth, 

And  miracles  of  speech  that  living  pictures  breathe: 


HELL  AND  HEAVEN.  265 

LXIX. 

And  faith  is  hence  converted  into  sight, 

What  was  belief  is  certain  knowledge  now; 

The  secret  imageries  are  in  light 

Engraven,  and  the  graphic  tablets  show 
The  enigma  solved  of  mortal  joy  and  woe; 

The  link  within  us  to  the  world  without, 

Life,  death,  and  how  the  mind  began  to  grow, 

And  how  it  is  immortal,  so  that  doubt 

Is  realized  in  fact,  and  every  truth  found  out. 

LXX. 
Sometimes  remembrances  of  earthly  dole, 

Mementoes  of  oblivion,  cast  a  shade, 
But  for  a  moment  only,  on  the  soul, 

And  then  the  living  who  had  once  been  dead 

Seem  as  in  cold  mortality  were  laid; 
But  soon  the  smiles  of  care-unclouded  skies 

A  May-day  over  melancholy  shed; 
Love  carves  no  more  their  epitaph  in  sighs, 
Dreams  of  the  heart  grieve  not  o'er  tender  memories. 

LXXI. 

Now  the  once  frantic  doating  mother  finds 

Her  long-lost  babe,  who  had  in  visions  blessed 
Her  mundane  slumbers,  and  around  him  winds 

Her  arms  till  he  is  mortised  to  her  breast; 

The  crown  of  their  fond  esperance  possessed, 
The  youth  and  maiden's  blasted  loves  embrace, 

Nor  fear  by  fate  unkind  to  be  oppressed; 
Parted  in  sorrow,  but  without  a  trace 
Of  sadness  now,  but  bright  with  beatific  grace. 


266  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

LXXII. 

Imbosomed  in  a  paradise  of  bliss, 

They  think  no  more  of  joy  that  is  to  be 
The  heart' s-ease  of  desire,  but  never  is; 

The  ignis-fatuus  of  felicity, 

Love's  shadow  that  on  earth  doth  ever  flee, 
Yet  followeth  always  after  earthly  love, 

Since  Eden's  trespass  banished  to  the  sky; 
Twinned  at  one  birth  in  some  amrita  grove, 
Love  tarried  here  with  men,  but  joy  sojourned  above. 

LXXIII. 
Here  are  the  martyrs  who  for  truth  had  died; 

Here  are  the  heroes  who  had  conquered  wrong; 
The  poor  who  had  by  griping  want  been  tried, 

Yet  railed  not,  carping  with  abusive  tongue, 

But  whispered,  "Salve"  to  the  rich  and  strong; 
Patrician  squires  who  had  been  bountiful 

Their  indigent  plebeian  hinds  among; 
The  wise  who  had  been  honest  to  the  fool ; 
The  creditor  who  had  been  kind  and  merciful. 

LXXIV. 
More  potent  now  for  good  is  the  poor  slave 

Than  e'er  his  hard  task-master  was  for  ill; 
The  ignorant  are  erudite,  cowards  brave, 

The  meek  and  pure  grow  meeker,  purer  still, 

With  ampler  piety  the  pious  thrill; 
They  who  had  filled  on  earth  a  point  in  time, 

Now  a  distinguished  circlet  round  them  fill: 
Their  deeds  illustrious  and  their  words  sublime 
Through  the  wide  courts  of  Fame  angelic  anthems 
chime. 


HELL  AND  HEAVEN.  267 

LXXV. 
Hark  the  names  chanted  on  the  illumined  scroll, 

In  thunders  echoing,  "Florence  Nightingale!" 
And  still  the  thunderous  echoes  onward  roll, 

"Whose  mission  was  to  solace  human  bale, 

Thee  first  and  chief  of  pitying  saints  we  hail; 
And  Sarah  Martin,  sister-seraph,  we 

Crown  with  a  chaplet  that  shall  never  pale, 
And  with  the  garment  clothe  of  sanctity, 
For  rich  with  sterling  love  was  thy  philanthropy." 

LXXVI. 
"  To  Elizabeth  Fry  like  honor  we  accord; 

Three  graces  of  your  sex,  whom  sorrow  blessed, 
And  thought  her  guardian  angels,  whose  soft  word 

Of  comfort  was  as  sweet  as  balmy  rest 

To  vigils  by  the  fever's  fire  oppressed : 
Judicious  benefactors  of  the  poor ! 

Kind  nurses  of  the  sick!     So  bends  her  breast 
The  mother  to  her  frail  child,  loved  the  more, 
And  feeds  its  wasting  life  from  her  maternal  store." 

LXXVII. 
"  Love  was  the  life-pulse  of  your  genial  souls, 

Unselfish,  pure,  divinity  enshrined 
In  holy  temples.     When  immured  in  goals, 

Or  laid  in  spitals,  Madness  closed  the  blind 

And  shutters  o'er  the  window  of  the  mind, 
On  hope's  death-bed  resigned  to  blank  despair, 

At  your  approach  with  consolations  kind 
The  light  returned;  then  ceased  corroding  care 
To  feel  its  pangs,  and  Heaven  invoked  in  grateful 
prayer." 


268  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

LXXVIII. 

"  And  Vincent,  Howard,  Peabody,  and  Guy, 
Clarkson,  and  Mill,  who  to  the  felon  lost 

And  Ethiop  drudge,  of  base  humanity 
The  outcast  and  the  martyr,  and  the  host 
Of  fortune's  serfs,  by  fate  or  folly  crossed, 

Opened  your  hands  and  souls  your  hearts  to  prove 
By  noble  works,  nor  made  your  deeds  your  boast, 

Inhabit  the  abodes  for  which  ye  strove, 

The  everlasting  realms  of  charitable  love." 

LXXIX. 
"  Hail  Garibaldi!  and  hail  Washington! 

Patriots  ye  were,  and  monarchs  scorned  to  be : 
If  ye  on  earth  have  reputation  won, 

Because  unpaid  ye  set  your  peoples  free, 

Here  the  complacence  of  the  Deity 
Shall  be  your  fame.     Yours  are  these  lustrous  bays, 

Wear  them  as  meeds  of  your  integrity ! 
Hence  angel  minstrels  shall  record  your  praise, 
For  to  your  country  ye  were  faithful  found  always." 

LXXX. 

"  And  hail  to  thee,  thou  firm-souled  President, 

Thou  second  Washington,  whose  fortitude, 
To  the  oppressed  and  scourged  a  ransom  sent, 

The  death  of  slavery  sealed  with  dear  heart's  blood, 

Vicarious  sacrifice  for  other's  good ! 
Much  honored  name!    inscribed  upon  the  scroll, 

That  o'er  the  stealer  of  man's  labor  stood, 
Whoever  work  of  body  or  mind  had  stole, 
To  mulct  him  for  his  theft,  and  shrew  the  guilty  soul." 


HELL  AND  HEAVEN.  269 

LXXXI. 

"Ye  sons  of  mental  toil,  who  labored  hard, 
Despising  ease,  to  serve  your  fellow  men, 

Sage,  legislator,  missionary,  and  bard; 

Who  woke  the  sleeping  soul  of  music's  strain, 
Who  raised  aloft  the  cloud-ascending  fane, 

Who  made  from  wedded  colors  life  appear, 

The  marble  smile  with  joy,  or  grieve  with  pain, 

Who  weighed  the  planets,  gauged  the  solar  sphere, 

Who  walked  the  ocean's  floor,  and  trod  the  paths  of 
air." 

LXXXII. 

"  Greater  than  kings  that  sowed  the  earth  with  blood, 
And  reaped  a  Golgotha,  ye  were  allured 

By  love  or  duty,  and  your  task  pursued 

With  will  unconquered,  though  ye  scorn  endured 
^From  them  to  whom  ye  benizons  assured : 

Who  tamed  the  water-snake,  and  who  subdued 
The  dragon  steam,  in  iron  bonds  secured, 

And  made  them  work  for  man's  colossal  good ; 

And  who  with  lettered  tongues  the  lighning's  flash 

LXXXIII. 

' '  All  benefactors  of  your  race,  receive 
Your  titled  recompense !     To  something  higher 

Than  earth's  applause  which  had  short  time  to  live 
You  are  invited,  that  ye  may  aspire 
To  laud  eternal.     Sunshine  here  respire, 

And  drink  pure  draughts  of  light,  without  eyes  see, 
And  hear  with  inward  sense;  through  fluxing  fire, 

Through  binding  frost,  imperishable  flee: 

The  laurel  still  is  green  when  roses  fade  and  die." 


270  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

LXXXIV. 
"Here  bodies  dwell  in  flame,  yet  burn  not,  mind 

Moves  through  the  ice,  nor  cold  nor  chilly  feels, 
Nor  is  the  soul's  illumination  blind, 

Though  in  the  flambeau  of  the  sun  it  wheels 

Its  steadfast  flight.     Here  nature  wise  reveals 
Her  inmost  heart,  and  shows  unmasked  her  mien; 

The  darkness  lifts  the  veil  her  face  that  heles, 
And  worlds  discovers  where  no  worlds  had  been, 
And  every  atom  lives,  and  is  what  it  is  seen." 

LXXXV. 
With  Moses,  Menou,  Plato,  and  Mahomet 

Jesus,  the  uncontaminated  soul, 
Holds  grand  discourse,  elaborately  set 

With  thoughts  ubiquitous,  until  the  whole 

Of  ethic  problems  solved  before  them  roll, 
A  Gospel  stereotyped  by  Truth  with  fire, 

For  seraphs  touch  his  lips  with  living  coal : 
All  was  an  infinite  harmony,  that  higher 
Man  might  ascend  in  life,  and  up  to  God  aspire: 

LXXXVI. 

Sin  on  the  flesh  was  grafted  to  corrupt, 
And  pain  was  budded  as  a  thorn  to  sting, 

That  death  the  mortal  tissues  might  disrupt, 
And  mercy  to  a  resurrection  bring 
The  body  in  the  Heaven's  perennial  spring: 

All  he  expounded — what  were  space  and  time, 
Matter  and  mind — how  linked  to  everything; 

What  conscience  was,  what  virtue,  vice,  and  crime, 

And   how  from  tenuous  breath  was    sculptured  life 
sublime. 


HELL  AND  HEAVEN.  271 

LXXVII. 

They  hear  the  soft  tones  of  that  gentle  voice, 
Which  once  had  been  the  Conquerer  o'er  death; 

They  see  the  laurel  of  immortal  joys, 

The  guerdon  of  the  good,  that  brow  enwreath, 
Which  had  been  torn  the  bleeding  spines  beneath; 

The  beatific  vision  of  that  mien, 

As  peace  benigriant,  and  as  firm  as  faith, 

That  smile  of  sympathy,  like  Heaven  serene, 

The  canonized  enthronement  of  the  Nazarene. 

LXXXVII. 

While  thus  the  Lord  of  Christianity, 

And  Shepherd  of  all  souls,  on  truth  and  love 

And  life  descanted,  in  another  sky 

Aurora  roofed,  through  a  sequestered  grove 
Of  Trees  of  Knowledge,  unforbidden,  rove 

Sages,  and  marvels  that  surpass  our  sense 
To  comprehend  discuss — the  worlds  above, 

And  worlds  below,  what  are  they,  and  from  whence  ? 

And  think  again  the  thoughts  of  God's  intelligence. 

LXXXIX. 
And  in  their  intuitions  wisdom  wrought 

The  plenitude  of  sapience  and  of  power, 
So  that  whatever  they  on  earth  had  sought 

Dimly,  creation  through  her  boundless  store 

Discloses,  registers  engrossed  of  lore: 
They  calculate  the  length  of  cycloid  years, 

The  distance  to  the  farthest  filmy  shore, 
Know  what  colures  engird  the  polar  spheres, 
And  to  what  bourn  occult  the  stellar  host  careers. 
H 


272  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

xc. 
The  source  of  motion,  and  the  cause  of  sound 

They  penetrate,  and  plumb  the  skies  to  tell 
The  dark  arcana  of  their  depths  profound — 

What  is  attraction  and  repulsion's  spell — 

And  in  what  medium  light  and  darkness  dwell. 
These  abstruse  axioms  Priestley  and  Liebnitz  read 

In  valid  arguments,  infallible, 
That  unsophisticated  science  thread, 
And  trace  its  complex  mazes  to  their  Founiain  Head. 

xci. 
Where  fringed  with  woolly  gold  the  dappled  clouds, 

Grained  with  an  evening  glory,  gorgeous  roll 
O'er  turquoise  lakes  and  swales  of  jacinth,  crowds 

Of  poets,  smit  by  holy  fancy,  stroll, 

No  longer  musing  tales  of  piquant  dole, 
But  themes  of  beauteous  grandeur,  pleased  to  praise 

The  good  and  noble  without  jealous  soul; 
Their  regal  foreheads  with  immortals  blaze, 
That  wreathe  their  coronets  of  welded  rainbow  rays. 

xcn. 
Through  mist  and  fog,  untouched  by  shivering  cold, 

Unscathed  by  melting  heat,  unscorched  by  thunder, 
Past  the  blue  fields  of  space  their  paths  they  hold, 

Cutting  the  plains  of  liquid  light  asunder, 

And  the  dark  crypts  of  chaos,  spent  with  wonder, 
Dazzled  explore;  planets  sequaceous  wheeling, 

And  moons  revolving  past  them,  on  they  wander 
Where  double  suns  are  round  each  other  reeling, 
And  galaxies  of  worlds  from  dust  to  life  are  stealing. 


HELL  AND  HEAVEN.  273 

XCIII. 

As  glides  the  albatross,  nor  flaps  a  wing, 

Over  the  effervescence  of  a  sea 
Of  tumbling  waves,  so  motionless  they  fling 

Their  flight  circuitous,  and  silently 

Swoop  o'er  the  whirlpools  of  eternity 
Through  ether  oceans  to  the  star-laved  beach, 

New  beauties  to  admire,  true  Poesy ! 
It  is  the  mind  that  makes  the  body  rich, 
And  truths  most  marvelous  the  highest  poems  teach. 

xciv. 
The  burning  glass  of  the  empyrean, 

Brushed  by  their  passage  through  the  world -dust 

rare, 
Flashes;  and  as  the  floss  their  tresses  fan, 

They  breathe  the  alkahest  of  vital  air, 

Sweet  peace  and  hopeful  trust,  exempt  from  care : 
Strange  constellations  glister  in  the  sky, 

The  novel  wardrobe  which  the  Heavens  wear, 
New  life,  new  worlds,  built  wheresoe'er  they  fly, 
With  square  and  compass,  by  the  Architect  on  High. 

xcv. 
Such  flowers  as  bloomed  with  first  love  in  our  youth 

Carpet  their  feet,  which  on  the  roses  tread, 
As  summer  shadows  fall  on  cloudlets  smooth: 

They  list  the  rythmal  rhapsodies  that  lead 

The  concert  of  the  spheres,  heard  by  the  dead, 
Eliminated  from  all  stain  of  ill: 

The  diapason  floats  o'er  wood  and  mead, 


274  TIME  AND  ETERNITY. 

From  the  far  sea  shore  to  the  fir-clad  hill, 

And  waves  and  waves  of  song  the  dome  celestial  ii 

xcvi. 
But  the  chief  of  these  favored  scalds  of  Heaven 

Are  chosen  choristers  before  the  Throne 
Of  the  Eternal,  and  to  them  is  given 

The  task  symphonious  paeans  to  intone, 

And  celebrate  the  Father  and  the  Son, 
The  perfect  God,  and  perfect  Man,  and  all 

Created  life,  together  joined  in  One 
Divinity  of  Love,  throughout  the  Hall 
Of  Paradise,  when  God  holds  highest  festival. 

xcvn. 
Hark  the  strain  flowing  in  a  sea  of  sound, 

Surging  and  swelling  with  the  organ's  base, 
Till  in  the  heart  the  notes  delirious  bound, 

Then  sink  in  silent  tones  of  tender  grace : 

Again  the  thunders  of  the  chorus  race 
From  the  pearl  gates,  and  pealing  anthems  rise; 

Halleluiahs  and  halleluiahs  pace 
The  Heavens  round,  and  trembling  harmonies 
Reverberate  along  the  repercussing  skies ! 


TIME  of  all  things  the  evolution  is! 

Another  day  of  joy  and  grief  is  dawning, 
And  soon  will  rise,  too  soon,  another  morning^ 
Till  hours  set  in  eternity's  abyss: 
Whilom e  the  snowdrop  on  the  turf  was  blowing, 
But  yesterday  the  rose  and  lily  bloomed, 
Shrouded  in  autumn  leaves,  their  honors  tombed 
In  winter's  frost,  await  spring's  sunshine  glowing. 

Time  the  s\veet  grace  of  all  perfection  is! 

The  past  lies  fallow,  plow  the  present  hour, 

And  sow  the  seed  that  sprouts  a  human  flower, 
To  burst  in  beauty,  and  to  blaze  in  bliss: 
Hope's  whisper  is  the  oracle  of  Truth; 

The  stars  are  prophets  that  in  Heaven  write, 

The  flowers  poets  that  on  earth  indite 
This  lesson,  God  is  God  of  Love  and  Ruth. 

Oh  teach  me  how  to  raise  the  thankful  psaim, 
That  on  the  weakness  of  mv  lama  back 
Thou  hast  not  laid  the  camel's  heavy  pack, 

But  in  my  wrounds  poured  wine  of  healing  balm  ! 

Lift  me  where  thrones  and  sceptred  muses  throng, 
Where  glories  vault  the  quivering  arch  with  fire, 
And  chanting  faith  that  's  bom  of  love  the  choir 

Is  rapt  in  holy  ecstasy  of  song! 


